In 2021 when the country was grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, Attorney-at-Law and gender practitioner Jerusha Crossette-Thambiah was intervening with the Police on behalf of a client who was being held at gunpoint by her husband.
After getting the client out of an unsafe household and securing her in a shelter home for survivors of gender-based violence, Crossette-Thambiah started on her case. But the survivor’s experience at the shelter home was so negative that she soon returned to her own house, choosing to go back to an unsafe environment.
Although shelter homes are a key part of the process of getting a person out of violence, Sri Lanka does not provide dignity to survivors seeking shelter, according to Crossette-Thambiah. “Many shelter homes are ill-equipped to think from the place where the survivor is coming from,” she noted.
Bills piling up
Shelter homes – those providing temporary refuge to victims of domestic violence and their children – are primarily run by the Women’s Bureau of Sri Lanka, an institution under the purview of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.
The bureau runs 10 shelter homes around the country – two independently and eight in partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed between 2020 and 2021 with Women In Need (WIN), Jaffna Social Action Centre (JSAC), Akasa, and the Women’s Development Centre (WDC) to establish eight shelters in seven districts.
The MOUs divide the financial responsibility of each shelter equally between the Women’s Bureau and the respective NGO. However, insufficient budgetary allocations over the last five years have left the bureau Rs. 15 million in debt to the NGOs (as of January) and struggling to provide reimbursements to the shelters when the bills arrive each month.
“In the 2023 Budget, Rs. 12 million was given to the bureau for the running of shelter homes. In 2024, this amount increased by only Rs. 600,000. A monthly bill from each home is at least Rs. 100,000, so we’re constantly in arrears. In some homes, matrons use their personal funds to ensure they don’t close down,” Women’s Bureau Director G.I. Sajeewani Perera told The Sunday Morning.
According to Perera, victims of domestic violence need to be in a “beautiful environment” once they have found the courage to leave a dangerous husband/partner or family, but Sri Lanka struggles to provide this due to a lack of funds, resources, and awareness. “They mustn’t end up being victims in both environments,” she emphasised.
Struggling shelters
WIN runs four of the aforementioned eight shelters. Its Executive Director Savithri Wijesekera said that despite the State’s commitment to support them, this had not happened adequately in the past four years.
The NGO runs its shelter homes with security at the forefront. Those who come to seek shelter are not allowed to use mobile phones, leave the shelter alone for any reason, or send their children to school.
The security measures come at a substantial cost, such as using private transport to take women to the hospital, courts, or Police station. With the economic crisis, these expenses have increased exponentially, as have the prices of food, clothing, and sanitary napkins.
“We also have to think about the cleanliness and maintenance of the building, as it has to be a conducive environment where they’re not stressed out. They have space for religious activities and where children can keep themselves occupied with playthings,” Wijesekera added, noting that women generally came to them after a minimum of five years of suffering abuse.
The State’s lack of support doesn’t mean WIN closes its shelter homes. “Women and girls depend on our services,” said the organisation’s Programme and Legal Manager Mariam Mohamed.
However, WIN has noticed a change in society since the economic crisis, triggered by Sri Lanka defaulting on its external debt in 2022. The NGO usually provides shelter for three weeks to a month, after which it has been able to find a relative or friend willing to help the victim. Since the crisis, though, a decrease in community support has been observed as people are unable to afford the cost of an extra person in their home.
Ayomi Sunela (name changed) found a shelter in 2023 after walking for hours with her three children in tow. This was the second time she had left her husband; he had found her the first time in her rented home and abused her.
Knowing that security was key this time around, she went to the Women’s Development Officer (WDO) in her area, asking her for a place to go to. The WDO gave her an address, but the location was difficult to find on her own. She did not dare to ask the Police for assistance, as her previous experiences with the Police had never been helpful.
Sunela stayed at the shelter for three months, but she made the difficult decision to leave as her daughter’s Ordinary Level exams were fast approaching and she could not sit for them while staying at the shelter. She was left with no options; her own parents were unable to take her in as her ex-husband knew their house and would find her.
For two days, she stayed in a room at a small rest stop for Rs. 3,000 a day. Her daughter’s exams were 15 days away when she met a NGO supporting women’s livelihood development through the WDO and the organisation helped her find a two-bedroomed annexe. With a small additional capital from the NGO, she has now started a tailoring business.
“I’m grateful for the shelter home, but I’m scared to think about what could have happened if I wasn’t introduced to this NGO,” she said.
Meanwhile, WDC Executive Director Sashi Stephen said that the State lacked structures to support women who were subjected to violence and abuse.
“The Government should help us,” she said, echoing the same concerns Wijesekera had regarding funding. Funding for shelter homes is difficult as neither international nor private donors are favourably disposed towards funding such long-term initiatives which are not tied to a project.
However, shelter homes are necessary as the perpetrator is typically not compelled to leave their house. “It is the abused woman who steps out, usually with two or three children,” observed Stephen.
Although the WDC would like to expand its services and provide at least one shelter home per district, the organisation is constrained by the lack of funds.
“Women come to us with just the clothes on their backs. Some haven’t even had a bath in days. Rebuilding from that point is expensive,” Stephen added.
‘At least one per district’
Sri Lanka Police Bureau for the Investigation of Abuse of Children and Women DIG Renuka Jayasundara said that at least one shelter home per district was needed.
“If the perpetrator is inside the house, the woman can’t return home once she leaves him. That’s why safe homes are needed. Usually they come to the Police because they have nowhere else to turn to, but there aren’t enough safe homes and the existing ones have limitations with regard to capacity. Everyone who needs a shelter can’t be sent to a shelter home,” she said.
Adding to the problem, the number of complaints that reach women’s desks in Police stations islandwide have increased from 2020 to 2023, as summarised in Table 1.
Privately-run shelters
Privately-run shelters have felt the pinch of the economic crisis as well. Grassrooted Trust Centre Manager Manel Jayasinghe, whose organisation runs a small shelter home with a four-person capacity in rural Sri Lanka, said that the economic crisis was felt in every corner.
The home’s food costs have tripled while the cost of sanitary napkins has increased exponentially as well. In order to meet these expenses, they have been reducing other costs associated with their organisation.
Currently, they spend about Rs. 60,000 minimum per month. However, Jayasinghe said that this amount increased if a woman with more children or a particular disease entered the home.
“They can’t go back to their homes, so we have to provide everything, starting from their underwear. Financial help is what’s needed for us to expand our services or expand our capacity,” she said.
Similar to WIN and the WDC, Jayasinghe stressed the importance of increasing the number of shelter homes.
The necessity for this was explained by Crossette-Thambiah: “Shelter homes are a vital first step to get a protection order; we can’t do that when they are in harm’s way. Even if the man is reacting, I have time to act once the woman is secure in a shelter. The ministry has to step in and direct budgeting to them and increase the number of homes.”
Table 1: Total complaints reaching women’s desks in Police stations
Year
Number of complaints
2020
121,513
2021
122,778
2022
136,677
2023
136,221
2024 (till Sept.)
108,570
Source: Sri Lanka Police