Four years after the end of the armed conflict, Tamil and Muslim women in the north and east of Sri Lanka are increasingly marginalized and face chronic insecurity, says an international rights organisation in a new report.

Thousands of women have lost husbands and other family members, while human rights abuses and violations ranging from sexual violence to land grabbing continue, according to Minority Rights Group International’s (MRG) report, Living with insecurity: Marginalization and sexual violence against women in north and east Sri Lanka.

The government is actively contributing to insecurity and rights violations through the pervasive militarization of the north and east, with negative consequences for the safety and freedom of minority women, the report says in its executive summary. “Poorly managed resettlement and competing land claims among the increasingly heterogeneous population are also raising tensions between different communities,” the executive summary said.

Minority Rights Group International is an NGO working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide, and to promote cooperation and understanding between communities.

Read the report here