This paper foregrounds how women’s public testimony as part of a formal transitional justice initiative is shaped by the particular context in which a commission operate, including the political and security environment. While the literature has engaged with the gendered predicaments of truth commissions after peace agreements and during transitions away from non-democratic rule, the function of such initiatives in more authoritarian and in immediate post-war contexts is generally overlooked. I examine women’s testimonies from Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and contend that pervasive militarization and insecurity, and the conduct of the Commission, influenced the stories that came forth. Women’s testimonies in the war-torn areas primarily represent pleas for information about missing family members and reflect important silences about the women’s own experiences of abuse, including ongoing post-war insecurities. The analysis raises questions about what may be expected from transitional justice efforts in difficult post-war contexts.

中文翻译：

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威胁下的证词：战后斯里兰卡的女性声音和正义的追求

本文重点介绍了作为正式过渡时期司法倡议一部分的妇女公开证词如何受到委员会运作的特定背景（包括政治和安全环境）的影响。虽然文献涉及和平协议后和脱离非民主统治的过渡期间真相委员会的性别困境，但这些举措在更专制和战后环境中的作用通常被忽视。我检查了来自斯里兰卡经验教训与和解委员会 (LLRC) 的妇女证词，并认为普遍的军事化和不安全感以及委员会的行为影响了后来的故事。在饱受战争蹂躏的地区，妇女的证词主要是要求提供有关失踪家庭成员的信息，并反映了对妇女自身遭受虐待经历的重要沉默，包括战后持续的不安全感。该分析提出了关于在战后困难的背景下对过渡时期司法工作的预期可能会带来什么的问题。