Abstract:
Sri Lanka went through an extensive and tragic civil war for nearly three decades from
year 1983 to 2009 claiming thousands of lives and a large scale cultural and political
disintegration, economical degradation and destruction of property. As men,women
combatants were also actively participated in the civil war related activities .After the
ends of war, the re-integration of ex-women combatants has become as one of the major
challenges of the society. The present study was conducted to examine a broad research
problem of what are the socio-economic issues faced by the ex-women combatants who
were reintegrated in to the society. Specific research questions included (a) what were
the reasons for them to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam?(b) how they suffered
during wartime? (c) how is their physical and psychological situation in post conflict
situation? (d) what extent women are suffering after reintegration into the society and
what measures need to be taken to improve their situation?. The study used qualitative
research method. The secondary information was reviewed in order to place the research
in a conceptual framework of conflict and reintegration. Some past studies on the subject
both from international and local scenarios were also reviewed. Primary data was collected
through case studies of reintegrated ex women combatants from the war affected districts
of Batticaloa and Vavunia in Northern and Eastern provinces in Sri Lanka. Data analysis
was done through descriptive explanations. The study concluded that after reintegration
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of ex-women combatants they are vulnerable from both social and economic perspectives.
The socio-economic status of ex-women combatants were degrading due to social and
cultural believes remained in the society. They suffered due to their ex-combatant identity
in the society with regard to social relations.
