A comparative analysis on protecting women's rights in conflict situations: Sri Lanka and Rwanda

Abstract

Rwandese experience on mass-scale violations of women's human rights in the conflict shook world'ss conscience. The final outcome of the grave violations of women's human rights resulted in the development of international human rights law and international humanitarian law jurisprudence on women in armed conflict. In comparison to the above-mentioned situation, Sri Lanka, as a country is currently in a post-conflict status or even ahead of, assures that there were less incidents on women's human rights violations during the internal conflict. On the other hand, some experts in the area of human rights and human rights situation reports/country reports are of the view that there were women's human rights violations during the conflict and currently, Sri Lanka are subjected to numerous allegations from the international community on human rights violations in general during the conflict. The main objective of the research paper is to comparatively analyse the applicable legal standards in protecting women's human rights during the time of the internal conflict in Sri Lanka in comparison to the Rwandese situation. To establish the facts of the aforementioned comparison, the author of the research conducts an analysis on the jurisprudence of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, in light of the issues and situations related to women in both conflicts. The Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka of 2011(Darusman Report) will also be used to establish the Sri Lankan women's rights situation during the conflict period.