In what may bolster the claims of human rights organisations, Tamil women in refugee camps in Sri Lanka were "sexually abused" by their military guards while many suspected of links to LTTE were taken away and not seen since, a British medic of Asian-origin has alleged.
According to 25-year-old Vany Kumar, who was locked up in a refugee camp for four months, along with many who escaped the horrors of the civil war, not only did the military guards traded sex for food with Tamil women but prisoners were also being made to kneel for hours in the sun, The Observer reported.
"It was a concentration camp, where people were not even allowed to talk, not even allowed to go near the fences. Sexual abuse is something that was a common thing, that I personally saw. In the visitor area relatives would be the other side of the fence and we would be in the camp.
"Girls came to wait for their relatives and military officers would come and touch them, and that's something I saw. The girls usually didn't talk back to them, as they knew that in the camp if they talked anything could happen to them.
"It was quite open, everyone could see the military officers touching the girls. Tamil girls usually don't talk about sexual abuse, they won't open their mouths about it but I heard the officers were giving the women money or food in return for sex. These people were desperate for anything," Kumar said.
