Oakland Institute: The Systemic Dispossession of the Indigenous Tamil People

Joint Dossier and Submission

SUBMITTED: February 17, 2026

SUBMITTED BY: ABC Tamil Oli (NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC)

SUPPORTED BY: The Oakland Institute, Mullaitivu Land Protection Council, and associated civil society organizations.

DISTRIBUTION LIST: ADDRESSED MANDATE HOLDERS (FEBRUARY 2026)

To: Dr. Albert K. Barume 
Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples

To: Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal 
Special Rapporteur on adequate housing

To: Mr. Michael Fakhri 
Special Rapporteur on the right to food

To: Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki 
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

To: Prof. Nicolas Levrat 
Special Rapporteur on minority issues

To: Ms. Nazila Ghanea 
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

To: Mr. Bernard Duhaime 
Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence

To: Ms. Mary Lawlor 
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

To: Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite 
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers

To: Ms. Astrid Puentes Riaño 
Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

I. INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

This submission details the technical reconstruction of four critical annexes regarding the systemic dispossession of the Indigenous Tamil population in the North-Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. We draw your attention to a sophisticated “Administrative Synergy” where central government departments—primarily the Department of Land Settlement, the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL), and the Department of Archaeology—operate in concert to bypass provincial autonomy and finalize the demographic transformation of the Tamil homeland.¹

II. ANNEX A: Technical Reconstruction of Gazette Extraordinary No. 2430

Gazette Extraordinary No. 2430, issued on March 28, 2025, marks a pivotal escalation in the state’s utilization of the Land Settlement Ordinance of 1931.² Under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands, and Irrigation, this gazette functioned as a mechanism for mass appropriation under the guise of finalizing land settlement.³

Statutory Authority and Procedural Timelines

The notice called for claims of ownership over lands categorized as forest, waste, unoccupied, or uncultivated under Section 4 of the Ordinance.⁵ Claimants were granted a restrictive three-month window, ending June 28, 2025, to prove ownership.² Failure to provide formal deeds triggers Section 5(1), allowing the state to declare the territory “State Land,” thereby extinguishing traditional or communal rights.⁵

Targeted Acreage and Geographic Distribution

The gazette targeted over 5,900 acres across the Northern Province, with a specific focus on the Mullivaikkal sector—the site of the 2009 conflict.³

Of the 1,702 acres in Mullaitivu, 934 acres were in Mullivaikkal alone.³ While the government announced a revocation of the gazette on May 27, 2025, following intense civil resistance, the underlying legal framework and the ability to re-issue such notices remains a constant threat.³

III. ANNEX B: Summary of Affidavits Regarding the Kurunthurmalai Artifact Scandal

This annex summarizes testimonies detailing a coordinated effort by the Department of Archaeology and state-aligned clergy to fabricate archaeological evidence as a pretext for land seizure at Kurunthurmalai, an ancient Tamil Hindu site.¹¹

Farmer Affidavits and Arrests

On May 10, 2025, Tamil farmers cultivating private land near the foothills of Kurunthurmalai were obstructed by a Buddhist monk, Galgamuwa Shantha Bodhi, and subsequently arrested by Mullaitivu police.¹³

• Sambithampi Ekambaram and Sriratnam Kajaroopan: Farmers remanded until June 6, 2025, when the case was dismissed after a government lawyer admitted no official gazette existed declaring the land as an archaeological reserve.¹⁴
• Sasikumar: The landowner who organized the cultivation while undergoing treatment for a heart condition.¹³

Allegations of Material Fabrication

On July 21, 2025, Walahahengunawewe Dhammaratana, a Sinhala Buddhist monk, lodged a formal complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).¹⁶ He alleged that a senior official, Mr. Jayathilaka, transported “artefacts” in bags and planted them around

Kurunthurmalai to suggest ancient Buddhist links.¹⁶ This manufactured fraud serves to justify the illegal construction of a Vihara at a Hindu site and the seizure of 300 acres of adjacent farmland.¹¹

IV. ANNEX C: Cartographic Projections of the Mahaweli “Wedge” (System L)

The Mahaweli System L (Weli Oya) represents a strategic colonization scheme designed to serve as a geographic wedge, severing the territorial contiguity between the Northern and Eastern Provinces.¹⁷

Kivul Oya Reservoir Project (2026 Revival)

In January 2026, the Cabinet approved the resumption of the Kivul Oya Development Project with a revised cost of Rs. 23,456 million.¹⁹ The project is scheduled for completion by late 2031.19

Demographic and Environmental Impacts

Projections for 2026 show the project will facilitate the settlement of over 7,000 Sinhalese settlers in the Mahaweli “L” zone, while no land allocations exist for the local Tamil communities.²²

• Land Loss: 1,615 acres of paddy land belonging to Tamil farmers in villages such as Uththarayankulam (Nelunkulam), AmayanKulam (Kiribanweva), and Kulavadukkulam are slated for confiscation.²²
• Forestry and Ecosystems: The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) predicts the loss of 2,500 hectares of forestland, exacerbating human-elephant conflicts in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya.²²
• Cultural Erasure: Ancient Tamil villages including Kattupūvarasankulam and Kanchuramottai are at risk of being submerged as water-retention zones.²²

V. ANNEX D: Analysis of the “Bim Saviya” Act as Digital Dispossession

The Registration of Title Act No. 21 of 1998 (Bim Saviya) provides the final legal seal on stateled dispossession through several mechanisms.²⁴

1. Elimination of Traditional Rights: The act removes traditional land rights such as coownership, paddy cultivation rights (Ande), and pre-emption rights essential for smallscale Tamil farmers.²⁴
2. Inheritance Repeal: The act effectively repeals the personal inheritance laws of the Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims (e.g., Thesavalamai), requiring land to be registered in a single name.²⁴
3. Removal of Judicial Remedy: The law replaces judicial recourse with an “Assurance Fund,” providing only monetary compensation rather than land restitution in cases of registration errors or fraud.²⁵
4. Economic Unit Constraints: Section 14 prohibits the subdivision of land below a “prescribed economic unit,” making many small-scale Tamil holdings legally ineligible for title.²⁵

In war-affected areas, where documents were lost during the 2009 displacement, the inability to produce deeds leads to land being categorized as of “unascertained” ownership and vested in the state, which then reallocates it to settlers.

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

We respectfully request that the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council take the following steps:

1. Immediate Moratorium: Demand a halt to all land titling and “Bim Saviya” registration in the North-Eastern Province until a transparent mechanism verifies the rights of wardisplaced populations.¹
2. Independent Audit: Initiate a forensic investigation into “archaeological discoveries” in Mullaitivu and Trincomalee following credible allegations of artifact planting.¹
3. Suspension of Resettlement: Call for the immediate suspension of the Kivul Oya project pending full community consultation and the restoration of land rights to displaced Tamil farmers.²²
4. Restitution: Ensure the return of lands seized via Gazette 2430 and other administrative pretexts to their original owners, regardless of their current residency status.⁴

Signed,

ABC Tamil Oli

(In collaboration with the Mullaitivu Land Protection Council and The Oakland Institute)

Works cited

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