Abstract
Abstract The United Nations Human Development Report (UNHDR) mentions that the rights of women and female children are inalienable, integral and indivisible. It further highlights the full and equal participation of women in every segment of the social process without any discrimination or without considering sex - gender hierarchies.1 The legal frameworks of the international system and local political space is accepting of the normative values of gender equality and the eradication of gender-based discrimination. But most of the majoritarian societies challenge these legal frameworks to address their political, social and market-oriented interests. These actions are driven by political, social and structural frameworks which have been accepted by the majoritarian societies in the liberal democratic world. Tamil women in upcountry tea plantations in Sri Lanka were subjected to systemic and structural violence because of Sinhala majoritarian statecrafts in post-independence Sri Lanka. The ethnocentric violence directly problematises human security, survival and the personal rights of the upcountry Tamil female labour force. This paper discusses the survival of Tamil female plantation labour forces, focusing mainly on the security crisis of female reproductive rights under the ethnocentric Sinhala Majoritarian Society.
Highlights
During the British colonial era (1815- 1948) in Sri Lanka, the Indian Origin People (IOP) shifted to Sri Lanka as low wage labourers to work in the tea plantations in upcountry Sri Lanka
If the ethnic Tamil community starts to control the productions of tea plantations they are inevitably questioning the political supremacy of the ethnic majority
Modern liberal states carry the possibilities of encouraging the political legitimacy of majoritarian society
Summary
During the British colonial era (1815- 1948) in Sri Lanka, the Indian Origin People (IOP) shifted to Sri Lanka as low wage labourers to work in the tea plantations in upcountry Sri Lanka. Under the British government rule, IOPs were eligible to visit Sri Lanka as low-skilled labourers without any passports or any other legal documents These provisions facilitated the migration of many waves of Indian Origin Tamils into upcountry Sri Lanka. Around 200,000 IOP Tamil plantation workers were sent back to India under these agreements whereas the rest remained in Ceylon / Sri Lanka These Tamil people received Ceylon / Sri Lankan Citizen rights under several acts including: The Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Person Act, Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Person Special Provisions Act and the Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act.. This paper discusses how the fear of small numbers was able to generate discriminative policies toward upcountry Tamils with special reference to violations of female reproduction rights
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