The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urges prompt investigations into acts of sexual violence in Sri Lanka

10 February 2011 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) urges Sri Lanka to "promptly investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of violence including sexual violence" which arose during the last stages of the conflict and in the post-conflict phase. Prior to this, ECCHR submitted a report during the 48^th Session CEDAW Committee on the foreseeability of sexual violence during the Sri Lanka conflict. The paper demands new legal means to hold perpetrators accountable and calls on the UN to consider the highly frequent occurrence of sexual violence in conflicts when developing their strategy for respecting human (and women's) rights. Sexual violence, both tolerated and directly ordered, is committed during conflict by state and non- state actors. Despite this, it remains a taboo subject and is left broadly unpunished. ECCHR argues that in certain circumstances sexual violence is a foreseeable consequence of conflict. Furthermore, both the existence of sexual violence and the denial that such violence is a crime constitute clear expressions of gender-based discrimination and patriarchal systems that must be overcome. http://www.ecchr.de/gender-based_crimes/articles/the-un-committee-on-the-elimination-of-discrimination-against-women-urges-promptly-investigations-acts-of-sexual-violence.html