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Sri Lanka

, Dalit rights activists break new grounds in South Asia, UN Women, 2018

Brief account of the initiative of Moni Rani Das, a Dalit woman living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who started advocating for nearly 3 million Dalit women living in the country and became the first Dalit woman sitting on the National Human Rights Commission in Bangladesh. Her activism is a source of empowerment for 120 million women altogether that live in South Asia and contributed to the transnational activism of FEDO, Feminist Dalit Organisation based in Nepal, which formed connection with the UN’s Women Fund for Gender Equality; more local organisations such as Nagorik Uddyog in Bangladesh, Swadhikar and Asia Dalit Rights Forum in India; and the Human Development Organization (HDO) in Sri Lanka. By predominantly promoting women’s economic rights, FEDO’s activity constitutes a protection against gender-based violence against Dalit women.

Franceschet, Susan ; Krook, Mona Lena ; Tan, Netina, The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights, ed. Ennaji, Moha, Sadiqi, Fatima, Vintges, Karen, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 784

Covers women’s political rights across all major regions of the world, focusing both on women’s right to vote and women’s right to run for political office. The countries explored are Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.

Giles, Wenona ; de Alwis, Malathi ; Klein, Edith ; Silva, Neluka, Feminists Under Fire: Exchanges Across War Zones, Toronto, Between the Lines, 2003, pp. 238

Examines role of women’s organizations in civil wars in former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka.

Godrej, Dinyar, For a Few Cents More:': Interview with Anannya Bhattacharjee from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance campaigning for a living wage, New Internationalist, 2020, pp. 32-33

The interview examines the role of Asian garment workers in a ruthlessly competitive garment industry influenced by 'fast fashion', which intensifies pressure on workers through forced overtime and 'inhuman productivity targets'. The Asia Floor Wage Alliance was created to unite unions across the borders of countries such as  India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka competing for market share, to create a regional bloc able to negotiate with the global brands in the industry. The aim was to ensure there is a cross-border minimum wage which cannot be breached, though the aim is also to raise wages, which would only entail a small rise to consumers. There is now recognition of the principle of an Asia Floor Wage across the industry, supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO), but pressure on the brands is needed. AFWA works with other labour rights bodies and NGOs, and also has partners in Europe and the US, where the global brands have their headquarters.

See also:  

http://awajfoundation.org/https://ngwfbd.com/ and https://www.ilo.org/dhaka/Areasofwork/workers-and-employers-organizations/lang--en/index.htm (ILO-Bangladesh).

Jayawardena, Kumari, Feminism And Nationalism In The Third World, London and New York, Verso, 2016, pp. 304

By demolishing the myth that feminism originated in the West, Kumari Jayawardena presents feminism as it originated in the Third World, erupting from the specific struggles of women fighting against colonial power, for education or the vote, for safety, and against poverty and inequality. Gives particular attention to Afghanistan, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam.

To look at a brief extract of the book see also https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4018-feminism-and-nationalism-in-the-third-world

Lahai, John ; Moyo, Khanyisela, Gender in Human Rights and Transitional Justice, ed. Khamis, Sahar, Amel, Mili, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 294

The authors challenge the (dominant) one-sided representations of gender in the discourses on human rights, and also transitional justice (involving new approaches to redressing recent major suffering and oppression). They examine how transitional justice and human rights institutions, as well as political institutions, impact the lives and experiences of women with references to Argentina, Bosnia, Egypt, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka. They focus especially, in a variety of contexts, on the relationships between local and global forces.

Loonba, Ania ; Lukose, Ritty A., South Asian Feminisms, Durham NC, Duke University Press, 2012, pp. 432

Building on 40 years of activism and scholarship, contributors assess recent feminist issues and campaigns in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Schapiro, Jonathan Anjaria ; McFarlane, Colin, Urban Navigations: Politics, Space and the City in South Asia, London, Routledge, 2001, pp. 347

Focuses on conflicts over urban space, resources and housing in Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and includes accounts of resistance in squatter settlements, e.g. in Kathmandu.

Wallace, M.S., Security Without Weapons: Rethinking Violence, Nonviolent Action, and Civilian Protection, London, Routledge, 2016, pp. 264

Exploration of discourses that legitimate violence and importance of challenging them in the practice of nonviolent intervention.  The author focuses on the civil war in Sri Lanka between the Government and the Tamil Tigers, and then analyzes the peacekeeping role of the Nonviolent Peaceforce Sri Lanka in 2008.