Implications of Enforced Disappearances on Women-Headed Families in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Citation:

Subramaniam, Jeevasuthan, Nur Mohammad Majumder, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, and Abul Fozol Muhammod Zakaria. 2014. “Implications of Enforced Disappearances on Women-Headed Families in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka.” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4 (4): 236-243.

Authors: Jeevasuthan Subramaniam, Nur Mohammad Majumder, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, Abul Fozol Muhammod Zakaria

Abstract:

Enforced disappearances persist in many countries all over the world. It creates severe social and psychological repercussions on families left behind. The Sri Lankan internal ethnic conflict lasted for three decades ended up with the deaths of more than 150,000 people and massive internal and external displacements. Additionally, a new social phenomenon has been evolved as “Women-headed Households of persons with forcibly disappeared” from all ethnic groups. The government of Sri Lanka and rebels have used forced disappearances as a weapon to suppress dissents and combat the armed conflict. This study attempted to examine the impact of enforced disappearances on Women-headed Households of North Province in a post-conflict context. Predominantly, it intended to focus on identity crisis, patriarchal domination, psychological implications, handling with painful experiences and potential challenges in implementing psycho-social programs for their well-being. The potential role of social work professionals also has been discussed. Mentioned the methodology use and highlighted the major findings.

Keywords: Sri Lanka, enforced disappearances, psychosocial challenges, women-headed households

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, IDPs, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Health, Mental Health, Households, Post-Conflict, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2014