Title: Sri Lanka’s Return to War: Limiting the Damage
Organisation: International Crisis Group
Date: February 2008
This report explores the costs and course of the conflict. It finds that by failing to protect human rights or share power with moderate, unarmed Tamil and Muslim political forces, the government's military approach strengthened extremists on both sides in the escalating cycle of violence.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: One Year On: Counter-Terrorism Sparks Human Rights Crisis for Sri Lanka’s Minorities
Organisation: Minority Rights Group International
Date: December 2007
This report documents Sri Lanka's human rights situation one year after the Sri Lankan government promulgated tough anti-terror laws, resulting in serious violations against ethnic Tamil and Muslim minorities.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: Sri Lanka: Sinhala Nationalism and the Elusive Southern Consensus
Organisation: International Crisis Group
Date: November 2007
This report examines the nationalism of the country’s largest ethnic community and its relationship to the almost 25-year conflict. It details how recent history shows the Sinhalese are not unalterably opposed to a fair deal for the minority Tamils but competition between their major parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), together with the violence and intransigence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), led President Rajapaksa to adopt a hardline nationalist approach.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: Sri Lanka’s Muslims: Caught in the Crossfire
Organisation: International Crisis Group
Date: May 2007
This report examines the plight of Sri Lanka’s largely ignored Muslim community, who have been victims of massacres, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement over the past two decades, largely by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and were sidelined at successive peace talks.
Links: Download this report from the organisation’s website
Download this report from the Universal Jurisdiction archive
Title: Sri Lanka: A Climate of Fear in the East
Organisation: Amnesty International
Date: February 2006
This report details the findings of Amnesty International research into the human rights abuses taking place in the east of Sri Lanka. It finds that there were large numbers of reported ceasefire breaches, including armed ambushes, abductions and intimidation, after the signing of the 2002 ceasefire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It also finds that such incidents escalated dramatically following the split in the LTTE in February 2004, with politically motivated killings, torture and the recruitment of children as soldiers being reported. There is a section dealing specifically with the Muslim community.
