The Current Situation

1. It is now over one year since Sri Lanka's war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) ended – what is the current situation?

While the armed conflict is over, the humanitarian situation remains grim with 40,000 of the original 300,000 war survivors still living in squalid camps. The lucky ones have found relatives to stay with and some children have returned to school. Only a minority have been able to return to their original homes.The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has made it hard for NGOs to provide humanitarian support and has done little to promote reconciliation and rehabilitation and bring about justice for victims.
Human rights abuses and attacks on lawyers, journalists and aid workers continue and torture and extra-judicial killings have been documented. More than 10,000 alleged insurgents, including former child soldiers are detained without charge or access to legal representatives and no public record of who is alive and detained exists.

2. If the war is over, why do you say the conflict is not? 

Because the root causes of the conflict remain unaddressed; a political solution which provides rights, justice and peace for all communities has not been discussed. Innocent Tamil civilians are not differentiated from the LTTE and are subject to many forms of “collective punishment”.

During the recent presidential and parliamentary elections the need to redress decades of minority grievances was barely mentioned. The focus was put on economic development in the former conflict areas over a proper truth and reconciliation process. But as the experiences of South Africa, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia have shown, there can be no lasting peace without justice.

3. I hear lots about repression in countries like Burma, but Sri Lanka seems such a nicer place in comparison. Is that so?

At first glance, Sri Lanka – a electoral democracy with a well educated elite and higher levels of development – appears very different to a place like Burma which is a military dictatorship. But the reality is that significant parts of Sri Lanka too have been under military or paramilitary control for decades; Sri Lanka is second only to Iraq when it comes to enforced disappearances, and like Burma, media workers and human rights defenders face harassment. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Sri Lanka as the fourth most dangerous place for journalists in the world; Reporters without Borders ranks it at the very bottom at 162nd in terms of press freedom.

4. Why is the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes?

Because evidence suggests that 20,000 - 40,000 civilians were killed in the 5-month period leading to the end of the war in May 2009. According to eye-witness accounts and UN satellite imagery, a massacre took place inside a government designated 'no fire zone' in northern Sri Lanka where densely populated areas including hospitals were shelled repeatedly by the Sri Lankan Army. The LTTE is also reported to have killed and prevented civilians from leaving these areas. According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), which has led the campaign for an international investigation into war crimes by both sides, the majority of deaths are likely to have occurred at the hands of the Government. http://www.

5. Hasn't the Sri Lankan government set up its own inquiry? Isn't that enough?

Although Sri Lanka has appointed many commissions of inquiry in the past none has ever produced a public report or led to prosecutions. Mr MCM Iqbal, Secretary to two previous commissions says, “Sri Lanka has a tradition of appointing Commissions of Inquiry and not implementing any of their recommendations”, a view shared by Amnesty International amongst many others.
The “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation” Commission established in May 2010 has no mandate to investigate war crimes.  Moreover, it is chaired by a pro-government former Attorney General whose 'inappropriate and impermissible' role in the last internal inquiry was listed by the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons as a key factor in prompting its resignation. The Commission’s proceedings will be held in private, there is little likelihood of witness protection, and the President has already indicated his unwillingness to see those guilty brought to justice, saying: “we can’t punish a person for defeating terrorism”.

6. Why does the Sri Lankan government oppose any international investigation?

If there is only a domestic inquiry, then senior government officials will not face consequences for their actions and their version of events will go unchallenged - President Rajapaksa maintains that no civilians were killed despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  The post 9/11 'war on terror' paradigm has allowed the GoSL to crush the LTTE with little regard for civilian life - knowing the international community would not intervene once it secured the support of India, China and Russia and kept the media and UN out of the conflict zone.  

7. Is it important to investigate war crimes? Isn't the past best forgotten?

Prosecutions, investigations and truth commissions in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and South Africa have demonstrated the importance of setting the record straight, giving a voice to victims and bringing the guilty to justice. Accountability for past crimes is necessary for sustainable peace and reconciliation. Sri Lanka is in the mess that it is in now because it has done its best to avoid dealing with the past - the time to change that approach is now.

8. Why has the EU withdrawn trade preferences (GSP+) given to SL?

GSP+ was a preferential trading agreement offered to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami and the EU has withdrawn it because Sri Lanka has been unwilling to meet the human rights and humanitarian conditions attached to this trade agreement. Rather than engage constructively, the government has attacked the EU and now claims that it can cope without GSP+. But as its former UN Ambassador Dayan Jayatillake has said “The cold hard fact is that we need GSP + far more than the EU needs to give it to us. It is not our right or entitlement…we sought eligibility upon certain claims and obtained the concession in the first place upon those claims and promises.”

9. What does the government of Sri Lanka say about the current state of the country?

Since the end of the war, the government's rhetoric has concentrated on the economic development of the country. It has rebuked international requests to monitor the situation and provide adequate humanitarian support. The independent investigation is viewed as an unnecessary infringement on its sovereignty.

10. Has the UN done anything about the situation?

The UN's response has been slow and over-cautious despite early pleas for a ceasefire and war crimes investigation. Criticism from NGOs like the International Crisis Group which highlighted the UN’s failing and repeated calls by key figures within the UN system have finally led to ‘an expert panel’ being put together in June 2010, by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The panel is to advise on action concerning Sri Lanka's "accountability issues" during the conflict.

11. Has the UN Secretary-General's panel on human rights accountability issues begun its work?


The Government of Sri Lanka has reacted aggressively to the announcement of the panel, claiming it is an infringement of national sovereignty. It has denied visas to the panellists and on 5 July 2010, a cabinet minister led a siege of the UN offices in Colombo amidst growing speculation that the protests were with the active support of the President.  The question is whether the UN Secretary General will allow the Government of Sri Lanka to gets its way again or if he will stand firm. The good news is that panel is due to start work in September, it will report despite not being allowed to go to Sri Lanka and has a proper secretariat (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100718/News/nws_01.html).

12. What are other international actors doing about the situation?

The ineffective response of the international community has enabled the Sri Lankan government to flout its international human rights and humanitarian obligations. Sri Lanka has secured diplomatic, military and financial support from China, India, Russia, Iran and Pakistan and these countries have also helped ensure that bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council have failed in their response to events in Sri Lanka. So far, EU countries are the only nations to have taken concrete action by suspending Sri Lanka's preferential trade status in July 2010. Pressure from the US has been weak with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Sri Lanka’s questionable domestic commission of enquiry.

13. Are things going to get better soon?

Whilst there has been an end to open conflict, the humanitarian situation remains grim and human rights abuses continue to abound. The culture of impunity is thriving in what some commentators call a de facto dictatorship.
The situation is compounded by the attitude of powerful nations such as China and India who have allied themselves with Sri Lanka, and many smaller developing states that have bought into its anti-Western rhetoric. So if things are allowed to continue as they are, there is no real hope for progress.