Sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka has occurred repeatedly during the country's long ethnic conflict. The first instances of rape of Tamil women by Sinhalese mobs occurred during the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom. This continued in the 1960s with the deployment of the Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna, who were reported to have molested and occasionally raped Tamil women.

Further rapes of Tamils were carried out by Sinhalese mobs during the 1977, 1981 and 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms.Brian Eads – The Cover Up That Failed – The Prohibited Report From Colombo, London Observer – 20 September 1981E.M. Thornton & Niththyananthan, R. – Sri Lanka, Island of Terror – An Indictment, (), 1984, Appendix A

Following the outbreak of Sri Lankan civil war, rape was used by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan armed forces, in an attempt to collectively punish the Tamil population, who were often seen as being supportive of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Katherine W. Bogen, April 2016, Rape and Sexual Violence: Questionable Inevitability and Moral Responsibility in Armed Conflict, Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark, Volume 2 Both Tamil females and males, including children, were targeted for rape. Other groups which committed rape against Tamils included the Indian Peace Keeping Force and Sri Lankan Police.Amnesty International on human rights violations before and after the Indo-Sri Lanka accord – Tamil Times, June 1988, p6-7

The LTTE has been noted for its general lack of use of sexual violence, though there have been isolated instances of rape of Tamils by LTTE members. Some LTTE members accused of rape faced execution from the leadership.

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who fled to India have also been victims of frequent rape and sex slavery by Indian security guards and intelligence police.

Many rapes went unreported during the conflict due to various factors, including retaliation from the perpetrators, impunity for the crime, and social stigma.

Sexual slavery and mass rape of Tamils by Sri Lankan government forces peaked at the end of the war in 2009, and persisted in the post-war era, with human rights groups describing it as "widespread and systematic".

The government forces consistently deny all the charges of mass rape, with one senior Army official stating the following in 2010:

1950s

1958 anti-Tamil pogrom

In May 1958 following tensions arising from the Sinhala Only Act, the abrogation of the Banda-Chelva pact and continuing Tamil protests against discrimination, an island-wide pogrom was unleashed against Tamils by organized Sinhala mobs.

Sinhalese journalist Tarzie Vittachi recounts the frequent use of rape by these mobs in his book "Emergency '58", where he describes a "Sinhala Hamudawa (army)" composed of Sinhalese laborers from various state departments and farms going on the rampage, raping, looting and beating up hundreds of Tamils. One account of rape recounted by Vittachi describes a Tamil officer who became mentally unstable as a result of being unable to defend his wife and daughter from the sexual assault:

1960s

Following the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom, the Ceylon government sent the military to the north under emergency rule, which enabled them to "operate brutally with impunity". According to Professor Neil DeVotta, Tamils were subsequently "ordered about and searched in a humiliating fashion" by soldiers, as well as being beaten or stoned by soldiers in passing military vehicles. Tamil women were also occasionally raped by the army, particularly when the soldiers were drunk on toddy.Ceylon Parliamentary Debates, Volume 57, Issues 1–6

1970s

1977 anti-Tamil pogrom

In response to Tamils voting for a party that espoused Tamil independence, state forces orchestrated another violent pogrom on Tamils in 1977. Hundreds of Tamils were killed and raped throughout the island. The following Tamil victims of rape are from the Sansoni commission report of 1980:

A young woman who was living with her parents at Bollegala, Kelaniya, was gang raped by two Sinhalese men in her own home after her parents were threatened with violence to leave the house, on 20 August 1977. A woman from the Neboda Estate was dragged away and raped by two Sinhalese men on 22 August when she went to the aid of her uncle Perumal who was being stabbed during an attack on the estate lines. A woman from the Frotoft Estate, Ramboda was gang raped by three Sinhalese men during a mob attack near Nillala estate on 18 August. Her jewellery was also stolen. An 18-year-old woman who worked on Lolgama Division. On 19 August, she saw persons coming from Galabodawatte Colony. They attacked her line room, and 6 men carried her to the bushes and raped her. On the evening of 18 August about 35 Sinhalese went to the house of a Tamil man in Kotagoda, Matale. He was hit and made to fall down. His house was looted and his six daughters, between the ages of 12 and 27 years were taken to a jungle 500 yards away and gang raped by about 8–9 men. In Ibbankatuwa, some 50 estate Tamil families cultivated about 300 acres there. On the night of 17 August, their houses were all set on fire. When the Tamils eventually returned to their homes they were attacked by an armed Sinhala mob. 5 Tamil men were stabbed and clubbed to death. The witness of this attack spoke of 3 cases of rape. This included his own sister-in-law who was raped by one of the killers. Another girl was raped by 5 Sinhala men; and yet another girl was also raped. On Karadupona Estate a Tamil worker was murdered by a Sinhala mob. Another Tamil worker said that she was raped by the son of a Sinhalese worker. Another Tamil worker complained of being raped by a Sinhala estate watcher. A worker on Rosyth Estate, Kegalle stated that 4 Sinhala men dragged her to the jungle and raped her on 20 August following attacks on their lines.

In a letter addressed to President J. R. Jayewardene, the leader of the main Tamil party, A. Amirthalingam accused Sinhala hoodlums of raping around 200 women during the 1977 pogrom.Appapillai Amirthalingam, Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front and Leader of the Opposition – Letter to the Sri Lanka President J.R.Jayawardene – 10 August 1983 His wife Mangayarkarasi Amirthalingam emotionally recounted some incidents of rape that occurred during the 1977 pogrom and said "Tamil women could not walk the streets during nights in safety."T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Chapter 17 – Sinhala-Tamil Tension Mounts (2003)

1980s

1981 anti-Tamil pogrom

In 1981 members of the ruling United National Party organized another pogrom against the Tamils. In the London Observer of 20 September 1981, Brian Eads reported that "25 people died, scores of women were gang raped, and thousands were made homeless, losing all their meagre belongings".

1983 anti-Tamil pogrom

Black July 1983 was the largest pogrom orchestrated by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamils. Up to 3000 Tamils were massacred in cold blood throughout the island. Countless women were raped with impunity.

Prior to the pogrom during the week of 18 July 1983, three Tamil schoolgirls were raped by Sinhalese soldiers in Jaffna, following which one of victims committed suicide.

The following accounts of rape occurred during the pogrom:

Indian journalist Anita Pratap reported in The Telegraph that Sinhala gangs armed with voters' lists came in empty trucks before they systematically looted Tamil homes; they had prior knowledge not only of where the Tamils lived, but also a list of their belongings as well. She narrated the experience of an Indian victim Trilok Singh who lived in a first floor apartment with her husband in Colombo. Trilok Singh heard people breaking into the apartment below where a sixty-year-old Tamil woman lived. Her furniture were stolen and she was raped.T. Sabaratnam – Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 28 – The First Interview (2004) A young store worker in Colombo was forced to watch the gang rape of his mother by a Sinhala gang, who hit him and his mother every time he tried to close his eyes. His mother was then killed and he was told "this is what Tamil whores deserve." He subsequently joined the LTTE and became a political leader in the organization. The two daughters of Diraviyam Nadar, a vessel merchant, were studying in a Buddhist school near Colombo. Both girls were raped by Buddhist priests before being sent off. Diraviyam Nadar had recently donated Rs. 20,000 to the Buddhist institution. The family ended up in a refugee camp in Mandapam, Tamil Nadu.M.S Venkatachalam, 1987, Genocide in Sri Lanka, Delhi:Gian Publishing House, p.29 On 25 July 1983, around 1:30 pm a Tamil survivor witnessed the gang rape and killing of two Tamil sisters, aged 18 and 11 by a Sinhala mob. The elder sister went on her knees and begged them not to harm her 11-year-old sister, who was then hacked to death in front of the 18 year old with derisive laughter from the mob. The elder sister was then gang raped by about 20 Sinhala men before being burnt alive. The witness also reported seeing several naked Tamil rape victims in a Colombo refugee camp who had been stripped of their clothes on the streets, and were being ogled at by Sri Lankan soldiers. In a letter addressed to President J. R. Jayewardene, the leader of the main Tamil party, A. Amirthalingam stated having a sworn affidavit from one Velu Subramaniam, a labourer of Thatchankulam, Vavuniya District. Subramaniam stated that his wife was gang raped by two Sinhala air-force men on the night of 30 July 1983. The air-force men then demanded his daughter to be made available to them the next day.

Eelam war I

Full-scale war broke out between the Sri Lankan Army and Tamil militant groups after Black July 1983. The Sri Lankan armed forces resorted to punitive mass rape of thousands of Tamil women in the North-East during the civil war.

1984

On 11 September 1984, the Sri Lankan Army massacred 17 Tamil civilians and gang raped two Tamil women travelling in a private bus to Jaffna. Survivors later found the two young women in the jungle where their assailants had taken them. They screamed and wept on seeing them. "Give us some poison. We prefer to die here than to return to our houses in this state," they declared.Tamil passengers killed in Army hijack – Two women raped – Tamil Times – October 1984, p6,18.T.Sabaratnam – Pirapaharan, Chapter 24, The Country turns into a killing field (2004) In November 1984, the Sri Lankan Army launched an offensive on the Tamils of Jaffna. Journalist David Graves of the London Daily Telegraph stated that "the only talk on the front line in Jaffna was death and fear where the Sri Lankan armed forces had unleashed a bloody campaign and where they are committing the most grotesque crimes away from international notice." He also reported that Jaffna was under siege and that the 800,000 inhabitants of the peninsula were living in the "shadow of murder, arson, bombings and lootings."David Graves, Daily Telegraph – Women raped at gunpoint in Jaffna – 17 December 1984 'A sobbing young woman, eight months pregnant, whose husband is working overseas, told me she was raped by a soldier at gunpoint the night before while other troops burned her mother's home.' stated David Graves in the same article. He spent three days listening to a "series of appalling stories of rape, massacre and intimidation."