90% Of Sri Lankan Women Have Been Sexually Harassed On Public Transport

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHEER UP LUV/UNFPA.

Each year on 25th November, the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we're encouraged to take stock of the physical, sexual and psychological violence facing women and girls around the world every day. We're all too aware of the dangers in our own lives, and may well be vocal about them, but in many countries these human rights violations go unreported due to impunity, stigma and shame.
The behaviours women endure are as wide-ranging as the abusers themselves, and stretch from intimate partner violence (including the physical, psychological abuse and rape) to female genital mutilation, trafficking and child marriage. Among the most common experiences reported by women everywhere – as those in Britain are all too aware – is sexual violence and harassment, in the home, on the street, in clubs, on public transport. Everywhere.

A new campaign is shining a light on a country where sexual harassment is rife and yet going almost entirely unreported. In Sri Lanka, a staggering 90% of women have experienced it on public transport but just 4% seek support from the police, according to UN statistics.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has collaborated with Cheer Up Luv, a photojournalism project documenting women's experiences of sexual harassment in public, founded by Eliza Hatch (who worked with Refinery29 and Gina Martin on our #StopSkirtingTheIssue upskirting campaign), to raise awareness and give voice to these women's experiences.