Gender Fact File - Sri Lanka
Police stations nationwide routinely record between 8,000 and 10,000 cases of violence against women per month in Sri Lanka. Its is unclear if this increase in the number of reported incidents is due to the actual increase of gender based violence or due to efforts by many organisations to encourage women to speak out against this crime. Nonetheless, even the increasing incidence of abuse did not indicate the true dimensions of the problem, IRIN Humanitarian News reports,
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81693
After the 2004 Asian tsunami in Sri Lanka, women face heightened risks of violence, impoverishment and lack of privacy at relief camps in several nations, a report by a coalition of 174 organisations reveals.
See http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL278312.htm
Domestic violence is an issue of particular concern. Information available in the Women's Rights Watch, an NGO publication, says 60 percent of women are affected by domestic violence.
See http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/07/19/fea01.html