The Sri Lanka Campaign works to support all those fighting for truth, justice, and lasting reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We do that by working to amplify the voices of victims, survivors, human rights activists, journalists, and other critical voices – highlighting issues that might otherwise be too dangerous for people to speak about openly inside the country.
Our campaigns, research and advocacy are designed to put pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to respect the human rights of its citizens and take the steps necessary to ensure lasting peace. Where we cannot change things directly, we aim to bring pressure to bear through members of the international community. Using our position based outside of Sri Lanka, we strive to act as a bridge between critical voices in Sri Lanka and the wider world, connecting an international audience – members of the public, decision-makers and politicians – to the issues that matter.
While meaningful change must come from within Sri Lanka, the deeply rooted structural and systemic problems in Sri Lanka mean that it is very unlikely that solely domestic attempts at reform will be successful unless supported and supplemented by the international community. This is particularly true when it comes to the issue of tackling impunity for serious human rights violations, which we believe lies at the root of Sri Lanka’s repeated cycle of mass violence. Time and again in Sri Lanka, we have seen that progress on human rights issues only occurs in response to sustained pressure from the international community.
We are a small organisation, which we means we have to think carefully about how we use our limited resources create change. We find that people power – empowering individuals like you through campaigns such as this – is very effective. We also do a lot of work with diplomats, United Nations officials, and members of the media. In recent years, our research and advocacy has had a significant impact in shaping the conversation about Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.
Our blog should give you a good idea of what we’ve been up to lately.