Sri Lanka has published a bill to establish a Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation. Although the bill superficially appears to tick several boxes for the international community, a close examination reveals…
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, October 21, 2003 The Bill on the Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation (CTUR) in Sri Lanka was finally issued in the Gazette on January 1, 2024 after months…
In 2023 Sri Lanka was struggling to come out of the economic meltdown with aid from the IMF, which required many austerity measures that impacted severely much of the population. People had…
The last few weeks witnessed a flurry of activity that brought to light a quiet initiative which has been progressing during the past year in terms of the post-war reconciliation process in…
As a Catholic, I start November with All Souls Day remembering our departed loved ones; as a Tamil, November ends with remembering the Tamil militants who sacrificed their lives for a Tamil…
Thirty three years have passed since the eviction of northern Muslims. In October 1990, some 75,000 to 100,000 Muslims in the Northern Province, about five percent of the province’s total population, were…
What is home to you? Is it a place, a person, a vocation, or something else? Most immigrants, including myself, struggle with this question. Is home the place we were born or…
The government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) has come in for criticism from a leading international human rights organisation, which also condemns the ongoing persecution of victims’ families, human rights…
Lack of accountability by the powerful undermines the rights of numerous Sri Lankans, according to a hard-hitting report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. The situation of…
On September 5, excavations will begin on a mass grave found in the Kokkuthoduvai area of Mullaituvu in accordance with a court order. The new mass grave is one of around 32…
Sarath Chandrajeewa’s first impressions of Jaffna came from his father’s stories about the north where he was stationed as a police officer. His father spoke of the friendliness of Jaffna people, their…
The last few weeks have seen increased media coverage in a relation to a government proposal to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Sri Lanka. At face value, this seems…
The horrific events of July 1983, when a wave of state organised arson and murder against Tamils left many dead, displaced or traumatised, shocked people in Sri Lanka and internationally. Many people…
Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, a prominent lawyer, diplomat and human rights advocate, is widely recognised for her significant contributions to the field of international human rights and women’s rights. She served as the…
An expert in Transitional Justice, accountability and reconciliation, former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Ambika Satkunanathan shares a powerful story of loss and perseverance during Black July and its impact…
