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Demanding a ‘pound of flesh’ in payment

03 Nov 2021

  • The disturbing reality of sexual bribery in Sri Lanka
BY Sumudu Chamara Using and abusing powers by those who have been assigned with higher powers is common in today’s society. Even though there are various mechanisms to lessen these power disparities and their impacts on different parties, there is no guarantee that those mechanisms can operate without succumbing to power imbalances that exist within them.  The police force, which has been given powers to protect and serve the public, abusing their powers is quite prevalent in Sri Lanka, even though the authorities maintain that those who do so constitute only a small fraction of the larger police force. Nevertheless, irrespective of how small that fraction is, the negative impacts caused due to abuse of powers on the public are alarming, and beyond the most obvious issues such as torture and unfair treatment, there are incidents that are not even reported adequately. Increased reporting, increased action The Public Security Ministry recently stated that disciplinary actions are being taken against certain police officers for allegedly soliciting various bribes, including sexual bribes, and that such police officers would be dealt with seriously. Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis, who spoke with The Morning, noted that the Ministry will pay close attention to such incidents and take necessary action, and that the process of taking disciplinary action against police officers involved in such incidents of bribery has already commenced. According to Alwis, even though such incidents are not new and have taken place before as well, such incidents had not been reported properly owing to the lack of proper legal action against those who have been implicated in such offences. He also said that as a result of taking stringent and proper action against such officers in a prompt manner, it has led to more cases of sexual bribery being reported. He also pointed out that only a handful of police officers are involved in such offences out of the entire police force, which comprises close to 86,000 officers. Alwis further said that the Ministry is of the opinion that such incidents should not take place at all, and that it is determined to take prompt action to properly address such, whenever these kinds of incidents are reported. During the past few months, there have been a number of reports of police officers demanding and accepting sexual bribes. The latest one among them was reported on 28 October, where a Chief Inspector of Police (CI), who acted as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Wanathawilluwa Police Station had attempted to obtain a sexual bribe as well as a monetary bribe. Investigation officers of the Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) arrested the police officer in question. Even though sexual bribery has not been clearly defined as a form of bribery, the Bribery Act as amended includes provisions which can be applied in such cases. According to the “Offences of Bribery” Chapter of the said Act, a person who offers any gratification to any police officer or peace officer, employed in any capacity for the prosecution, detection, or punishment of offenders, or to an officer of a court, as an inducement or a reward for such officer’s interfering with the due administration of justice, or procuring or facilitating the commission of any offence, or protecting from detection or punishment, the perpetrator of any offence, or abusing his/her official powers to the injury or detriment of any person, or a person who, being any such officer, solicits or accepts any gratification as an inducement or a reward for such interfering, procuring, facilitating, protecting, or abusing, will be guilty of bribery.  One of the explanations provided in the Act for the term “gratification” is, “any other service, favour, or advantage of any description whatsoever...”, which can be related to, among other things, sexual bribery.  Such an offence attracts a punishment of rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years and a fine not exceeding Rs. 5,000. In a landmark case, i.e. Kathubdeen vs. Republic of Sri Lanka, the Court of Appeal held that “gratification” in the form of sexual acts also amounts to bribery, and comes under the said Act. Referring to the Act, the court held that per Section 90 of the Act, the word “gratification” is used in its larger sense as connoting anything which affords gratification or satisfaction or pleasure to the taste, appetite or the mind, and that the craving for a honorary distinction or for sexual intercourse is an example of mental and bodily desires, the satisfaction of which is gratification, which is not estimable in money. Although The Morning attempted to contact the National Police Commission (NPC) to find out the nature of the legal and disciplinary action taken against police officers who have been accused of demanding or accepting sexual bribes, the NPC was not reachable. Sexual bribery in Sri Lanka Media reports about acts amounting to sexual bribery in Sri Lanka are not at all uncommon, even though there is a lack of such incidents being officially reported, as women’s rights activists have pointed out. Even though there are some studies focusing on sexual harassment faced by women at the hands of public officials, or addressing the issue of sexual bribery in Sri Lanka as a part of other studies and projects, there is a lack of studies specifically addressing sexual bribery in the Sri Lankan context. According to the United Nations (UN) Women – Asia and the Pacific, sexual bribery and exploitation of widows, especially female heads of households, in exchange for essential services, have been recorded, in a context where many men were killed or forcibly disappeared during the 30-year war between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In a context where widows face multiple issues such as poverty, discrimination, and limited support in Sri Lanka, owing to their status as widows, women now step outside of their role as caregivers to becoming providers, which makes them vulnerable to sexual exploitation and bribery, especially when attempting to access essential services or gain an income, according to the UN Women – Asia and the Pacific, and this issue is further compounded in the post-conflict context, which has created a shift in societal dynamics, with more women taking up traditionally male-driven gender roles. To look into this issue, the UN Women in partnership with the Centre for Equality and Justice (CEJ) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), conducted a project titled “Addressing Sexual Bribery Experienced by Female Heads of Households, including Military Widows and War Widows in Sri Lanka, to Enable Resilience and Sustained Peace”, with the aim of empowering widows and their families and working with state institutions to ensure accountability and to end impunity for sexual exploitation and bribery. According to the final evaluation report of the project, which quoted the CEJ, the approach of public officers asking sexual favours from vulnerable women is very common in the country and has been naturalised as part of the corporate culture, and addressing deeply entrenched cultural practices which deal with very uneven power relations had made the project´s entrance into the public arena especially difficult. It added that there is evidence of important challenges for women in the country where they will not go alone to public institutions for fear of harassment.  According to CEJ Executive Director Shyamala Gomez, quoted by the UN Women – Asia and the Pacific, in the Sri Lankan context, one of the key challenges pertaining to looking into sexual bribery is difficulties relating to collecting the necessary case studies, as it is a difficult subject for women to discuss because of the stigma and trauma. She had further stated that it is hard for women to admit that they suffered sexual bribery when accessing public services.  Another report by the CEJ, titled “Shrouded in Secrecy: Sexual Bribery of Muslim Women in Post-War Districts” said that men perceiving widows and single women as particularly vulnerable, malleable, and open to sexual predation is a common phenomenon among all strata of Sri Lankan society, and that it is further exacerbated in contexts of power inequality such as when impoverished women or single women seek various services from state representatives and institutions. “Sexual exploitation and sexual bribery must be understood within the broader context of the Sri Lankan society which is patriarchal and does not adequately value or respect women,” it added. In its findings, it said that some women have faced multiple situations of sexual bribery while others have sought to escape compromising situations by marrying, re-marrying, or going overseas to work as a housemaid, and while the threat of many sexually exploitative situations may have ended or been circumvented, some threats continue to loom large in these women’s lives despite many years having lapsed or if the predator continues to live or work in their vicinity. Most women had confided to a friend or a relative about the incident of sexual bribery they had faced, even though this was the first time most women had spoken about it to an outsider. Out of the 10 cases of sexual bribery that were mentioned by the interviewees of the study, only three had lodged complaints (one woman with an OIC of a police station and the Women’s Desk at the police station; one with an OIC of a police station, a women’s group, and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL); and one with an international donor of a non-governmental organisation she was working with). The study, however, noted that none of those complaints had been taken seriously and that the perpetrators were not punished. Among those who had demanded sexual bribes were three police officers, one district secretary, a provincial councillor, a secretary to a provincial councillor, a probation officer, a grama niladhari, an administrator of a government school, and an employee of a university. With regard to lodging complaints with the Police against police officers, the study said: “When complaints were made against police officers, their colleagues did not take the allegations seriously. One officer refused to take down the complaint and prevented the woman from meeting with the OIC. In another instance, a complaint was made to the OIC but he scolded the complainant and told her that he did not have time for someone like her. Disappointingly, even a complaint that was made to a woman police officer at the Women and Children’s Desk, who was known to the complainant, was not taken seriously.” Reporting and preventing According to sociologists and legal experts, sexual bribery – which, depending on the circumstances, sometimes may be referred to as a form of sexual harassment – among other forms of briberies, is less likely to be reported due to socioeconomic factors involving the offering or accepting of sex as a bribe, and also due to possible negative outcomes of revealing or taking legal or any other action against such. Stigma and further harassment are two of the key reasons both women and men refrain from filing complaints in the international context, according to researchers. Among other reasons are, the lack of resources and access to support survives, fear induced by trauma, fear of prosecution due to being a person who offered a bribe in the form of sex, the lack of evidence, the lack of trust in the legal and support system that is available to the victim, fear of retaliation by the perpetrator, the perpetrator being in possession of information that can damage the reputation of the victim, and shame and concerns pertaining to the victim’s position within his/her community. According to the researchers, in the case of men giving sexual bribes, the main reason they do not come forward is shame, and possible damage the incident could cause to their social status or job, especially in patriarchal societies. Another reason is the possible damage the revelation of such incidents could cause to the relationships they have with their immediate family.  In the Sri Lankan context, as stated in the report “Shrouded in Secrecy: Sexual Bribery of Muslim Women in Post-War Districts” there are several reasons women refrain from lodging complaints about incidents of sexual bribery. Among them were the fear of social stigma and losing honour and respect within the Muslim community, the fear of being censured by the mosque, the fear of having the freedom to travel being restricted by family members, the fear of reprisals by the perpetrator especially when the perpetrator is a powerful figure, the fear of not being believed, and the fear of further harassments. Addressing sexual bribery taken and/or demanded by police officers, according to several studies done in the US and in the UK, is a complex matter not only due to concerns pertaining to victims, but also due to practical measures that can effectively support this endeavour. However, by taking some measures, the prevalence of such can be reduced. Among the recommendations these studies suggested were establishing a mechanism to monitor the nature of public relationships police officers who have been accused of bribery maintain with service seekers; having in place a proper surveillance strategy to regulate and/or restrict social media activities by police officers during work hours in order to curtail or prevent sextortion; raising awareness about the existing support mechanisms in order to strengthen trust in the justice system; making access to justice and support mechanisms as simple as possible; and paying more attention to conflicts of interests among investigating police officers and the alleged perpetrators (police officers) during investigations. They stress that these measures will, in turn, increase the reporting of sexual bribery, which will, in turn, reduce incidents of sexual bribery. As the Public Security Ministry Secretary pointed out, the lack of reporting plays a major role in the process of addressing incidents of sexual bribery, and the increase in reporting can increase action against such. Although the time and the resources it takes to properly address these cases may be of concern in Sri Lanka, especially when it comes to court cases, taking the initiative to increase reporting would help lessen these incidents considerably. If you feel that you or someone you know may be affected by this content or may be going through a similar situation, the following institutions would assist you: National Women’s Helpline: 1938 LEADS: 011 495 4111 Women in Need: 077 567 6555 Sumithrayo: 011 268 2535 Shanthi Maargam: 071 763 9898  


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