Preventing violence against women and girls

The issue

The COVID-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka’s socioeconomic crisis have had devastating impacts on the security of women in Sri Lanka, with drastically increased incidents of violence against women and girls. Along with large spikes in cases of domestic and/or intimate partner violence, the crises have also led to spikes in sexual bribery, rape and femicide. As women survivors grapple with increasing burdens of unpaid care work and shrinking incomes, along with lockdowns, travel restrictions, shortages, and shrinking social protection systems, their access to protection and justice continues to shrink. Marginalized groups of women including women heads of households, women with direct experience of conflict, members of the LGBTQI+ community, women with disabilities, and women from rural areas are among those most affected.

How are we making a difference?

Recognizing that prevention is still the most cost-effective, long-term way to stop violence, UN Women's programmes focus on promoting women's economic empowerment, early education, respectful relationships, and working with men and boys to create environments where women are less vulnerable to violence, and have the resources and agency to lead safer, more empowered lives.

• UN Women has provided emergency relief and support to women’s shelters most affected by the socioeconomic crisis in Sri Lanka, with continued access to essential commodities including food and other necessities, as part of a Japan-funded project “Empowering Women in Crisis” (February 2023 – January 2024).
• Over the years, UN Women has supported the implementation of the Global Compact for Migration inclusive of the first-ever training curriculum for Labour Attaches on the provision of sexual and gender-based violence services for women migrant workers.
• Through UN Women’s joint project on “Empowering Communities to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Mannar” (2021 – 2023) supported by the Government of Australia, UN Women has strengthened the resilience and autonomy of over 90 women entrepreneurs to become economically independent, and thus less vulnerable to violence.

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