Young women recently released from Vavuniyaa internment camps and resettled in Mannar district are living in fear of their life, and are living are being sexually abused by members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying the Mannar area, sources in Mannar said.. Parents of the women undergoing harassment are unable to make official complaints because of fear of retribution, and are relocating, in increasing numbers, their daughters to relatives’ houses located elsewhere for safety, civil sources from resettled areas say.
Resettled areas are in complete control of the SLA, and in many areas residents number less than eight per soldier, sources say.
During nights unidentified men alleged to be members of the SLA have been frequenting houses where young women stay, and when the women answer, the soldiers forcibly enter the house and abuse the women, civil sources said.
Many young women have been widowed in the war, and some husbands are still under detention.
Men and women disabled by war are also a major problem in resettled areas, civil sources added.
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