About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, a small island nation off the coast of India, has been plagued by ethnic conflict since independence from Great Britain in 1948. The conflict ended brutally in May 2009, with a bloodbath on the beach and the killing of up to 40,000 Tamil civilians, due to the Sri Lankan government’s ruthless military campaign in Tamil areas. There has not been a single investigation or prosecution for these killings.

History
Recent Crisis
International Response
Current Situation

History
The island is composed predominantly of two ethnic communities: the Sinhalese, which are the majority, and the Tamils, who make up approximately 18% of the population. After centuries of colonial rule, political power was distributed to the Sinhalese majority upon independence. As a result of the ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural differences between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, Sinhalese politicians manipulated ethno-religious nationalism for political gain at the expense of the Tamil minority. Legislation was passed to privilege the Sinhalese in education and employment, declare Sinhalese the national language, and enshrine the Buddhist religion in governance. For two decades, Tamils organized peaceful demonstrations and protests calling for equality for all ethnic groups within Sri Lanka, inspired by the cause of Mahatma Gandhi. The government of Sri Lanka ignored the non-violent movement and often responded to it with violence . Successive governments failed to offer a lasting solution that would protect all citizens' rights and allow Tamils to participate in social, economic and political spheres.

After decades of discriminatory policies and ethnic pogroms against the Tamils, civil war began in 1983 with state-sponsored attacks against Tamils across the island – now infamously known as Black July – in which over 3,000 Tamil civilians were killed. Tamil homes were bombed, businesses were looted and women were raped, tortured and killed. Confronting this systematic oppression, various Tamil groups resorted to armed struggle, eventually led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE based their struggle on the right to self-determination and sought a separate homeland for Tamils. Human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE were widespread throughout the decades of conflict. The Tamils reside primarily in the Northern and Eastern regions of the island, and this region was besieged by the government’s economic embargoes, heavy militarization, attacks against media, and extra-judicial killings of Tamil activists and members of parliament. The LTTE gained control over much of this territory throughout the 1990s and established a de facto state in the region, with a separate police force and separate judicial, education and healthcare systems.

In addition to the Sri Lankan government’s violent campaigns, the government systematically attempted to destroy the Tamil culture and identity. In 1981, the Jaffna Public Library, a trove of Tamil heritage containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts, was burned to the ground by government-sponsored mobs. Hindu temples and Christian churches, most of which have Tamil congregations, have also been attacked. The Sri Lankan government has for decades deliberately and systematically been working to destroy Tamil life, identity, language and religion. In effect, the Sri Lankan government has been actively perpetrating a cultural genocide against the Tamil people.

Recent Crisis
In 2002, a Ceasefire Agreement was established between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to stop all hostilities and peace talks began. However, the agreement was infringed upon by both parties. The Sri Lankan government continued attacks against Tamil civilians which included the massacre of 17 aid workers, the bombing of 61 school girls at a camp, and other extra-judicial killings and disappearances.

In 2004, an Indian Ocean tsunami spread throughout South and Southeast Asia, leaving 40,000 dead in Sri Lanka. The World Bank estimated that 60 percent of the devastation caused by the tsunami in Sri Lanka affected the Northern and Eastern regions. Since much of these areas were under the control of the LTTE, a joint aid mechanism was established between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government to enable international aid to reach the affected population. However, this mechanism was declared unconstitutional by the government and many Tamil tsunami refugees never received assistance. At this stage, between 70,000 and 80,000 civilians had been killed due to the conflict.

On January 2, 2008, the government of Sri Lanka formally withdrew from the ceasefire, causing the nation to plunge into conflict. Aerial bombardments and shelling attacks by the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE's actions caused a massive displacement of about 300,000 civilians and a bloodbath of civilian deaths. In September 2008 the Sri Lankan government ordered all non-governmental organizations to leave the LTTE-controlled territory. Local Tamils desperately pleaded with the United Nations and NGOs not to abandon them during their greatest hour of need, but they withdrew.

From January to May 2009 the government of Sri Lanka continued to advance into LTTE-held territory, alleging the operation was a “humanitarian mission” to save civilians and defeat the LTTE. The government ordered Tamils into increasingly-small “No Fire Zones”, and deliberately bombed these regions and intentionally shelled hospitals. Civilians were executed and women were raped and assaulted, according to civilian and Sri Lankan military witnesses. Witnesses also say that mass graves were created to hide evidence of the Sri Lankan government’s crimes.

The active conflict came to an end when the Sri Lankan government militarily defeated the LTTE on May 19, 2009. Following the end of the conflict, 300,000 internally displaced people were held in highly militarized internment camps where abuses such as rape, disappearances and physical violence was rampant.

International Response
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon ordered the creation of a Panel of Experts to advise him on issues of accountability during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s conflict. The report from the Panel of Experts stated that there were credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE during the final stages of the conflict. The Panel estimated that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed and recommended a full international investigation into these allegations. Following the UN report, London-based Channel 4 News released a documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, which included testimony from eyewitnesses and video and photographic evidence of the war crimes committed at the end of the conflict.

The UN Panel determined that Sri Lanka’s domestic commission, the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission does not satisfactorily provide accountability for crimes committed by Sri Lanka’s security forces. Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and Amnesty International have criticized the LLRC for attempting to whitewash Sri Lanka’s crimes against Tamils and have called for an international investigation into war crimes.

Current Situation
Impunity continues for the Sri Lankan military’s crimes against Tamils; there have been no investigations or prosecutions for attacks against Tamil civilians. Over the past two years, life for civilians living in the former conflict zone has yet to return to normalcy. About 10,000 - 15,000 civilians remain in the internment camps, while the rest have been resettled to other temporary shelters or camps. Reports from the ground indicate that many civilians are still living without enough financial assistance, materials to re-build homes, or basic social services. Many civilians do not know what happened to loved ones during the end of the conflict and seek justice for the disappeared and killed. The government of Sri Lanka has intensified restrictions and abuses against the media, placing itself 158th out of 196 countries on Freedom House's list of media freedom. The U.S. Department of State, Freedom House, Reporters Without Border and Committee to Protect Journalists have all called on the Sri Lankan government to end its attacks against media outlets and journalists. Religious freedom has also come under threat. The State Department’s 2010 International Religious Freedom Report documented over twenty incidents in the last two years involving harassment, assault and destruction of places of worship, which was mostly against Christian churches.

To learn more about Sri Lanka's history, watch PEARL's video: Island of Tears