Forgotten Experiences of Up-country Tamil Women in Transitional Justice gone directly to the police station without wasting time” – Wife of a person arrested under the PTA in 2007. Thus, women generally lack awareness of existing legal mechanisms that they can access. Among interviewed women, only some know about the Human Rights Commission (HRC), the ICRC, or Sri Lanka Red Cross. Since the strength of human rights organisations is weak in the plantation sector, these women are often uninformed about different state commissions and their public consultations, unlike what can be seen in the North and East. It clearly shows in the reports produced by different commissions, such as Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the Consultation Task Force, and the Public Representations Committee (PRC). The annex to the PRCCR report (2016) which indicates the identity of those who made submissions, reveals that there were very few submissions by Up-country Tamil women. The closed system of estate management is another factor that contributes to the issues that women face in accessing information. Though Up-country Tamils nowadays have access to print media, television and internet, the relevant information does not always reach them due to socio-economic and political reasons. Civil society organisations find it difficult to work in the plantations, as they have to get prior approval from the relevant company management to conduct awareness programmes. This prevents Up-country women from getting all the relevant knowledge on current political affairs. 63

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents