Socio-economic and psychological impact on families of PTA detainees following the Easter Sunday Attacks, Sri Lanka

Introduction

This research was undertaken to highlight the socio-economic impacts faced by the families of those arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).The PTA has predominately targeted men belonging to ethnic and religious minorities (Tamils and Muslims), and their arrests leave the women and families vulnerable.The women have to bear the brunt of the socio-economic impact of these arrests.

Women are left to care for the elderly and their children, and generate an income in order to survive. They also have to liaise with lawyers and visit the arrested men. An increase in poverty levels and indebtedness, is an additional consequence of the arbitrary arrest and detention of primary income earners. Thus, this indirectly places an additional burden on the State. Further, as society tends to buy into the government narrative and stigmatise such families as “terrorist families”, these families also face social ostracism and psychological trauma.

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