The Tamil in Sri Lanka

Research Paper # 58169

Asian Studies
Ethnic Studies > Asia
Ethnic Studies > Conflict

Examines the political and civil rights of the Tamil ethnic minority in Sri Lanka.

4,336 words () | 21 sources | MLA | 2003

Paper Summary:

The paper begins by presenting an overview of the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It then examines the background of the conflict between the Tamil ethnic minority and the government of Sri Lanka. The paper looks at the different points of view on this conflict and the consequences of these differing opinions. The paper then looks at rape as a form of torture used by government officials against Tamil women.

From the Paper:

"The government encourages its soldiers to use rape as a weapon against the Tamil, because it is aware that this is a very powerful weapon of war. As a proof of the fact that rape is used and encouraged as a weapon against the resistance, the Tamil women are raped in the most inhumane ways possible, with the head of the victim "covered with a polythene bag filled with chilli powder and petrol" or, in the case of one victim, after "pins were inserted under the nails of her fingers and toes" ("Rape in Custody"). Wendy McElroy, a former victim of rape and a scholar on the effects and even the uses of this special form of violence, explains these horrible practices by saying that "rape is a political matter" ("Rape in Custody"). By using this method of torture, the Sri Lankan is not really only fighting a war of weapons. but a war of psychology."