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UNIFEM's consultations and assessments presented important findings with regard to the impact of the tsunami on women, and drew attention to some weaknesses in recovery operations.
| Due to civil strife, tsunami-affected areas already had a large number of female-headed households. In Aceh, an estimated 60 per cent of the population was female, 23 per cent of which headed households. In the towns of Gara’ad and Kulud in Somalia, 45 per cent of women are heads of households. A UNIFEM survey in Sri Lanka estimated one in five post-tsunami households as headed by a female. |
- Female-headed households: The tsunami left many women heads of households, often widowed or divorced, without food, shelter or productive assets to support their families. Furthermore, many were taking in orphaned children or elderly relatives whose families did not survive. As relief distribution was targeted, in many areas, at male heads of households, many women found it difficult to access aid. Sri Lankan and Acehnese women described many instances where they received relief supplies in the form of goods, but were not able to access recovery grants which only went to men as heads of households. Without cash to start over, it would be difficult for them to re-build their livelihoods.
- Legal rights: Many women raised fears of losing inheritance, land or property rights given the loss of deeds and personal documents during the tsunami. This was complicated further by the fact that before the tsunami only a small number of land owners held properly registered titles in the first place. In Aceh and Somalia, homelessness among female survivors was particularly acute, as women traditionally have severe difficulties claiming ownership rights to land or property registered under their husbands or fathers' names. In the eastern part of Sri Lanka, women were especially concerned that customary laws that give women a one-third share in land and inheritance would be lost in the new legal processes being designed in the recovery period. Many women in Aceh were found not to know they had guardianship rights of their children or the right to savings in bank accounts of their deceased husbands — this was discovered only through meetings with religious leaders, as both issues are traditionally covered only in Shari'a courts.
- Violence and intimidation: Women reported that competition for relief food and other commodities often turned into physical confrontation. In Somalia and Aceh, women told of shying away from distribution areas to avoid potentially violent situations. Sexual harassment in temporary shelters and spikes in domestic violence cases in Sri Lanka, Aceh and Somalia were also reported.
- Shelters and temporary settlements: Shelters being constructed to house populations displaced by the tsunami did not adequately take gender and cultural concerns into account. Women in Aceh and Sri Lanka complained of discrimination, a lack of adequate sanitation, clean water, and health services, as well as poor lighting and insensitive latrine design which heightened insecurity and impinged on their dignity and cultural beliefs. Women were also not being included in shelter management decision-making processes to make their concerns known.
| In Aceh, an important initiative is underway to re-establish Balai Inong, or ‘women’s houses’, in the affected areas as a safe space for women to gather, work together, build livelihood skills, and get information on their rights. Traditionally, many villages in Aceh had a Balai Inong before these were destroyed by the tsunami. UNIFEM is working with NGOs and international organizations such as IOM and UN Habitat to include these structures in shelter planning programmes, and is supporting local groups to run them and conduct activities once they have been set up. The first Balai Inong, set up by NGO partner, Building Bridges to the Future, will open in December 2005 in Rumpet village. |
Based on such findings, UNIFEM supported its partners to establish governmental and nongovernmental mechanisms to track and address inequalities in service delivery, and to monitor violations of women's human rights throughout the recovery and reconstruction period.
In partnership with other UN agencies and NGOs, guidelines were drafted for the protection of women's and children's rights, particularly targeting internally displaced persons (IDPs), of which there are more than 1 million in Sri Lanka and Aceh alone (UNDP). A Gender Checklist was provided to the Tsunami Task Force [2] in Somalia to be used in all sector reports. Gender Rights Watch mechanisms have been set up in Aceh and Sri Lanka to monitor human rights violations and women's inclusion in recovery processes. These are complemented by a "Women's Watch" run by local women's groups in Sri Lanka, and "Women's Houses" in Aceh, which provide vital information to women on their legal rights, livelihood options and the recovery services available to them [3].
The National Committee of Women (NCW) in Sri Lanka received support to lobby for and provide inputs to a bill on Domestic Violence (which has been passed), and bills on Women's Rights, and the Allocation of State Lands, which are pending. In Aceh, women's groups are working on drafting a new Qanun (local law) on women's rights and protection, and lobbying for inputs into a new bill on the governing administration of Aceh that is pending.
In Sri Lanka and Somalia, numerous workshops have been held to train peer counsellors to deal with trauma — 71 women have received training in Sri Lanka, reaching about 10,000 people in turn, while in Somalia 28 women trainers have been able to directly reach about 500 women already.
Workshops are also being held to clarify rights and identify avenues for women to secure them, such as discussions on economic assets and inheritance rights under Shari'a law with religious leaders, village heads, local banks and the provincial authority in Aceh, and training for personnel at Women and Children Desks at police stations in 6 Sri Lankan districts to handle reports of violence against women.
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[2] The Task Force was set up by the Somali Aid Coordination Body (SABC) and OCHA to coordinate the inter-agency response.
[3] The Gender Rights Watch in Sri Lanka was established within the Human Rights Commission, while in Aceh UNIFEM is collaborating with the Commissioner on Violence Against Women and the Aceh Bureau of Women Empowerment.
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