Testimony Under Threat

Women’s Voices and the Pursuit of Justice in Post-War Sri Lanka

Bibliographic Data

ID12957239
AuthorsKristine Höglund (0000-0001-7167-609X, Uppsala University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume20
Issue3
Pages361-382
Publication date2019-03-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Rights Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1874-6306 • E-ISSN: 1524-8879
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12142-019-0549-3
OpenAlexW2921967667
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited52

This paper foregrounds how women's public testimony as part of a formal transitional justice initiative is shaped by the particular context in which a commission operate, including the political and security environment. While the literature has engaged with the gendered predicaments of truth commissions after peace agreements and during transitions away from non-democratic rule, the function of such initiatives in more authoritarian and in immediate post-war contexts is generally overlooked. I examine women's testimonies from Sri Lanka's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and contend that pervasive militarization and insecurity, and the conduct of the Commission, influenced the stories that came forth. Women's testimonies in the war-torn areas primarily represent pleas for information about missing family members and reflect important silences about the women's own experiences of abuse, including ongoing post-war insecurities. The analysis raises questions about what may be expected from transitional justice efforts in difficult post-war contexts

Amnesty · Authoritarianism · Commission · Context (archaeology · Criminology · Democracy · Economic Justice · Human rights · Militarization · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transitional justice · Gender Studies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law · South African History and Culture

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Open DOISci-HubOpen Access