claims involving contracts, financial transactions with property, both movable and immovable, can be brought by a woman against her husband. Though a spouse cannot be a witness for the prosecution she can do so if there is an attempt to cause violence (Evidence Ordinance S. 120 (3)(4). The exception will therefore apply if he is accused of committing any of the above offences in respect of his wife’s property or finances (See Annex). (iv) Gender Based Sexual Violence Introduction Gender based sexual violence can be perpetrated against women in the family and in the community, and sexual violence can be perpetrated in the course of inflicting fatal and non-fatal injuries discussed earlier. The Sri Lanka criminal law as incorporated in the Penal Code, Chapter XVI considers the act of causing of fatal and non-fatal injuries serious criminal offences of bodily harm or offences affecting the human body and life. By including offences of sexual violence in this Chapter, the early Code reiterated the idea that these offences infringe a core human right to life and bodily integrity. Where sexual violence is perpetrated in the course of other offences of bodily harm the sexual offences are considered additional and separate criminal offences of bodily harm, provided the act falls within the categories of sexual violence covered by Chapter XVI of the Penal Code. The criminal justice system of Sri Lanka from the time the Penal Code was enacted in the nineteenth century, has considered sexual violence an infringement of the human right to life and protection from violence against the body. Sexual violence has never been considered a minor offence of a violation of a woman’s chastity, as in some legal systems. The Penal Code amendments of 1995 tried to strengthen this approach, creating new offences in response to emerging issues of GBV, and also modifying existing laws on rape and sexual violence in the nineteenth century Penal Code. These amendments created new offences of incest, (S. 364 A), grave sexual abuse, (S.365 B), cruelty to children (S. 308 A) and sexual harassment. (S. 345). These laws were strengthened further by an amendment to the Penal Code in 1998. There was an effort to review and amend the Penal Code provisions which criminalise abortion and homosexuality in 1995. This failed, and the homosexuality offence was also broadened to include lesbianism or homosexual acts between females. (S. 365 A as amended 1995). The amendments of 1995 also included the concept of minimum sentences and financial compensation for the injury caused through the commitment of these offences. (See Annex). The Penal Code was further amended in 2006, and introduced the concept of including “psychological or mental trauma” in assessing financial compensation for injuries caused by sexual offences referred to earlier. S. 43 of the Penal Code refers to harm caused to the mind in the definition of the word “injury” used in the Code, but this may have been ignored earlier. All these changes were a policy clarification that sexual offences were grave infringements of a woman’s right to protection from bodily harm, which in turn impacts on a range of rights including for reproductive health rights. Sexual violence manifests in Sri Lanka in many forms. It can take place in forced and early marriage of girl children. It extends to sexual violence and harassment of female heads of households or widows, in communities that are facing the aftermath of years of armed conflict in the North. There is evidence of a form of FGM or female genital mutilation practiced in some Muslim communities, and a cultural practice of a virginity test requiring a bride to bleed on first intercourse on marriage, in some Sinhala communities. Puberty rituals, including dietary restrictions on first menstruation are also practiced in some Sinhala COMPENDIUM ON LAW, GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 13