About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

41 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 523 (2002-2003)
Maximizing the Achievement of Women's Human Rights in Conflict-Transformation: The Case of Sri Lanka

handle is hein.journals/cjtl41 and id is 531 raw text is: Maximizing the Achievement of Women's Human Rights in Conflict-Transformation: The Case of Sri Lanka SUNILA ABEYSEKERA* I. INTRODUCTION The second half of the twentieth century was marked by a proliferation of small wars.' Some of these conflicts were undeclared, defined by Latin American political analysts as dirty wars (guerra sucia), and by military experts as low-intensity conflicts. Between 1990 and 2000, 118 armed conflicts took place in different parts of the world.2 Over six million people are estimated to have died as a consequence.3 A large percentage of conflict-related casualties involve civilian non-combatants. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), eighty percent of those who flee their countries in the course of a conflict are women.4 Civil wars and internal conflicts are a catastrophe for ordinary people, especially for civilians caught in crossfire, who are rendered homeless and displaced as a consequence of the fighting. The fundamental causes of violent conflict may be found in broader social, economic, and political contexts in which poverty, deprivation, denial of access to political power, lack of representation, discrimination, and competition for scarce resources marginalize Sunila Abeysekera is a human rights activist and Director of INFORM, a human rights documentation center based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 1998, Ms. Abeysekera received the United Nations Human Rights Award for her work. 1. Internal conflicts based on ethnic, religious, or other differences, for example, that often escape world attention. 2. Dan Smith, Trends and Causes of Armed Conflicts, in BERGHOF HANDBOOK FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION 5 (Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management 2001), available at http://www.berghof-center.org/handbook/smith/final.pdf. 3. Id. 4. U.N. HIGH COMM'R FOR REFUGEES, THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S REFUGEES 1993: THE CHALLENGE OF PROTECTION 87 (1993).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most