Memorandum
to Her Excellency, The President,
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

From the 'Women's Coalition for Disaster Management-Batticaloa' 25th April 2005

The impact of the tsunami on communities, family structures and social relations has been enormous. Men, women and children have lost family, their houses, property, land, movable property, kin networks, community support structures and livelihood options. The enthusiasm and commitment of the government and other agencies to rebuild the physical and social structures of communities affected by the tsunami is commendable.

We wish to draw your attention to our serious concerns about the confusion and anxiety that prevail among the displaced women/ persons particularly regard to the resettlement plans and reconstruction projects. In this regard we wish to point out that still displaced people are not well informed in Batticaloa about the plans both of GOSL and of other lead agencies regard to shelter and other land related rights issues.

We regret to note that the documents of the GOSL- Assistance Policy & Implementation Guidelines on Housing & Township Development (2005) and the subsequent letter from the Commissioner of Essential Services on Transitional Accommodation Project (TAP) to the District Secretaries have failed to address gender concerns with regards to provision of both temporary and permanent shelter. Our concerns are listed below.

1 Definition of Household:

TAFREN guidelines are not clear about who is entitled to housing reconstruction assistance. Though it claims that it will encourage "household-driven housing reconstruction" it does not specify how it defines a household. In section 2.1, households are taken to mean house as "extended families living in the same house…..will not be entitled to more that one house". However, in section 5.1, the document speaks of the family being given assistance (Assistance Policy and Implementation Guidelines on Housing and Township Development 1st March 2005). However in Sri Lanka there are various forms of family. We insist on clarification of the terms used, as these would impact on who is eligible for reconstruction assistance.

2.Women's representation in decision-making bodies on shelter:
We have been alarmed that the formulated structure for community participation, assessing damage of houses, allocating plots, grievance committees, designing of shelters and issuing certificates, does not have any direct representation of women.

Through past experience we know that if women's representation is not made compulsory criteria for decision making bodies, then there is dismal representation. Considering that women have been equally affected by the tsunami as men, and that if women are not in decision-making bodies, then their concerns are overlooked; hence we call for positive action by both the state authorities and donors to ensure that women are represented in all decision making bodies. We would like to commend the positive action taken by the DS of Vakarai in Batticaloa District who has committed to including 7 women in 13 Damage Assessment Teams.

We believe that tsunami recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction process has to be based on the promotion and protection of rights rather than on a 'victim focus' and being limited to a welfare and dependency approach. In this context we wish to emphasise that this work must conform and take into account Sri Lanka's international human rights commitments, particularly its commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

We also request that International NGOs engaged in tsunami recovery work are required to follow international guidelines on response to displacement and recovery that call for specific gender sensitive processes and delivery of assistance to affected populations.

Therefore we call for the following:

1. That Donors and local government officials ensure that all Village Rehabilitation Committees include at least one woman from the community. This individual can be a woman from a CBO or local women's organization, or someone with special knowledge of the concerns of women.
2. That all divisional and district grievance committees include women in the community.
3. That all Damage Assessment teams include a woman representative from the Village Rehabilitation Committee.
4. That the 3 member working committee on the District Donor Consortium ensures that at least one third of the nominated representatives for Village Rehabilitation Committees, Damage Assessment Teams and District Grievance Committees are women.

From the Assistance Policy and Implementation Guidelines on Housing and Township Development 15th March 2005, it is clear that the Village Rehabilitation Committees and Divisional and District Grievance Committees play a very important role in the reconstruction process. They are responsible for making the beneficiary lists, administration and disbursal of grants, and resolution of disputes. Therefore, we strongly urge the district government structures and the donor representatives to ensure that women are represented in these bodies.

3. Financial Assistance Schemes for housing reconstruction

According to the Assistance Policy and Implementation Guidelines on Housing and Township Development 15th March 2005, the grant given to the 'family' has to be utilized within 6 months (see section 5.1). Also the policy on eligibility for loans 5.2 indicates that no one over 45 years would be able to claim a loan for reconstruction of their homes. The eligibility for special loans seems to be based on the capacity to pay back the loan rather than on the vulnerability of people whose homes have been destroyed by the tsunami.

We appeal to the humane and moral integrity of decision makers who draw up such guidelines not to apply business standards and practices when addressing the enormous needs of communities whose lives have been devastated by the terrible tsunami disaster.

We are further alarmed that due to the noticeable increases in alcohol consumption among the people affected by the tsunami, reconstruction assistance will be used for other purposes.

Therefore we call for the following:

1. That special concessionary provisions are made to support vulnerable families who may not be able to carry out construction of their homes within six months, especially women headed households.
2. That the local government officials and donor agencies ensure that vulnerable groups have access to material and human resources to rebuild their homes, and to ensure that vulnerable groups are not exploited when trying to access these resources.
3. That to reconsider the '45 year' age cut off for loans is reconsidered, as this would discriminate against many families, especially the middle-aged and the elderly.
4. That to make men and women equally eligible for the collection of the compensation money.

4. Land Rights for women in the post-tsunami resettlement process:
The existing legal framework on land rights in the context of State grants of public land to citizens, discriminate against women both in law and in practice. Grants of State land in agricultural colonisation schemes are made to the male with the female spouse receiving no rights to land.
The laws on land rights pre-date the current Sri Lankan Constitution and they remain valid in spite of their inconsistency with the constitutional provisions on equality. Since these laws cannot be challenged in the Courts, State action is required to bring them in line with the constitutional standards. Much of the post tsunami resettlement will take place on state land and it now becomes imperative that the State takes urgent steps to both amend the laws and the administrative practices carried out under them, so that women can have equal access to land ownership. They must be granted joint ownership for state land that will be allocated post tsunami, and state land must not be allocated only to the head of household (currently defined as the male).

1. We would like to firmly request that these amendments are passed urgently by parliament before land allocation is done for tsunami-affected families. Thereby if the land was in a man's name before the tsunami (in accordance with the amendments proposed to the LDO) new property rights should be given in joint ownership to him and his wife.

2. Rebuilding own permanent shelter: If the land and house was in a man's name before the tsunami, certificates given to households for the purpose of reconstructing damaged houses, should be given in joint ownership to him and his wife.

We would like to highlight the fact that in the East of Sri Lanka, customary laws allow for property to be inherited from mother to daughter a widespread and current practice. This is illustrated by the information gathered from a rapid study on landownership conducted in 7 villages in the Batticaloa district which indicates that many women among both Tamil and Muslim communities were land owners and must be allocated title to any land they will receive in compensation for land lost as the 200 meter buffer zone comes into effect. In Palchenai-Vaharai 23% of land was in a woman's name; in Puchakerni-Vaharai 42.3% of land was in a woman's name; Kathiraveli-Vaharai 41.6% of land was in a woman's name; Puthukudiyiruppu North/Central/South-Manmunaipattu division 67% of land was in a woman's name; Puthukudiyiruppu South Camp 3-Manmunaipattu division 68.1% of land was in a woman's name; Seelamunai-Manmunai North division 68.9% of land was in a woman's name; Poonachimunai Pudukidiyettathittam -Munmunai North Division 54.9% of land was in a woman's name (assessment done by CARE International, Third Eye Local Knowledge Group and Suriya Women's Development Centre).

Therefore in order not to take away existing women's rights to land, we call for the following:

3. Resettlement: If land was owned by a woman before the tsunami, the resettlement land titles should be given to the women.
4. There were more women among the dead, within the 200 meter buffer zone. If the land belonged to the woman who died, the land in resettlement areas should be given to the daughters, following customary practices in the East where house and land are inherited from mother to daughter.
5. Rebuilding own permanent shelter: If the land and house was in a woman's name before the tsunami, certificates given to households for the purpose of reconstructing damaged houses, should be given in the woman's name.
6. We strongly urge that people who were living outside the buffer zone, without permit or land titles, or on rent for many years, be eligible for a house or other assistance. This is because for example, many old persons who were living within such conditions would be made homeless and vulnerable.

We are aware that some donors, along with local government officials, have been allotting shelters and land through a lottery system. We strongly urge that donors and government officials be sensitive to the protection needs of women and children who prefer to live close to known relatives and friends, rather than been given an arbitrary plot among unknown people.

Timely and clear information must be made available to women directly to avoid confusion, fear and a dependency on rumors on dominant figures in the IDP camps. Since there is confusion about the compensation and eligibility to the land, apart from the grievance committees, there should be a help desk at each DS office.

Furthermore, international human rights standards recognize the right of displaced persons to fully participate in the planning and management of their return, relocation and reintegration (See UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Principle 28).

The above recommendations and concerns are all supported by the Sphere Guidelines for Humanitarian Assistance, UNHCR standards and emerging accounts from other affected parts of the island.

References:
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women 1993
The Women's Charter (Sri Lanka) (1993), Office of the Ministry of State for Women's Affairs, Colombo The Sphere Guidelines: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (2004, revised edition), The Sphere Project: Programme of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) and InterAction, VOICE and ICVA. Memorandum to the Members of TAFREN by Coalition for Assisting Tsunami Affected Women - Colombo and WCDM Batticaloa

Members of Women's Coalition Batticaloa:

Suriya Women's development Centre, Batticaloa
People's Welfare Organisation, Kiran
Thiruperunthurai Community Development Organisation
Working Women's Development Forum, Batticaloa
Women's Development Foundation, Batticaloa
Women's Committee - Zahira College Camp Batticaloa
Women's Committee- Paddy Marketing Board Camp, Batticaloa
Women's Committee- Paliadithona, Batticaloa
Women's Committee- Manjanthoduwa, Batticaloa
MEESAN, Kattankudy
DESMIO, Kattankudy
Foundation for Co- Existence- Women and Peace Desk, Batticaloa
World University Services Canada, Batticaloa
OXFAM GB, Batticaloa
OXFAM Community Aid Abroad, Batticaloa
CARE International- Gender Based Violence Task Force, Batticaloa

CC: