Tamil women from the North-East who come to work in Sri Lanka’s special trade zones are being subjected to sexual harassment and abuse, found a report by The Diplomat, driving at least one woman to commit suicide.
“Activists estimate that about 90 percent of them are molested at least once during their tenure,” states a piece by Harshita Rathore this week.
“Poor and marginalised women from Sri Lanka’s north-east work in Special Trade Zones, mostly garment factories created by the government,” said a video report.
“Three months ago, one Tamil girl committed suicide because of sexual harassment,” said Ashila Mapalagama, director of Stand Up Movement Lanka. “That Tamil girl came from Jaffna, a North-East area. While she was working in the production line, the supervisor proposed to her many times… At the end of the day, she went (with him) to a room. And after that, she committed suicide in her room.”
Before she killed herself, the girl had reportedly sent a text message stating “Now my life is over. What supervisor needs… now I cannot live anymore.”
See more from The Diplomat here.