Sixteen Years On In a world currently embroiled in multiple conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine Sri Lanka’s experience stands as a stark reminder of the consequences when power eclipses principle…When military triumph is achieved through the disregard of civilian protection, and when the shield of sovereignty is used to justify systemic abuse, the credibility of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
An Epochal Episode in the Tamil Freedom Struggle
Black July 1983 Reposting from July 10, 2006 by Dharakan, Brisbane, Australia J.R. Jayawardene said, “The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here. Really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.” Early Ground Work for Genocide Burning Tamil houses, July 1983. Source:… Read more »
ATC Remembers Black July
by Australian Tamil Congress, July 2025
Explainer: Another Mass Grave and the 1990 Sampur Massacres
by Tamil Guardian, London, July 25, 2025 Tamils pay tribute to victims of the massacres earlier this year. Following the discovery of another set of human remains in Sampur this week, just metres from where at least 57 Tamil civilians were murdered by Sri Lankan government forces in July 1990, we re-examine the massacres. ‘We… Read more »
Reflections on Arrival of First Batch of July 1983 Riot Refugees
from Colombo to Jaffna by Ananth Palakidnar, Jaffna Post, July 25, 2025 From the time the land mine explosion took place on July 23, 1983, the Eelanadu regional newspaper, where I was a sub editor, became active on covering every incident in Jaffna and Colombo, as well as India’s stance with regard to the July… Read more »
42 Years Since Black July
by Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, Jaffna Post, July 2025 The fact that there is still no political solution to the ethnic problem is even more shameful than the worst ethnic violence. Forty two years have passed since the July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom that marked a watershed in inter-ethnic relations in Sri Lanka. Beyond the horrors of more than… Read more »
From Srebrenica to Mullivaikkal
The Long Road from Grief to Justice by GEO LENS Substack, July 20, 2025 This July, the world marked the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were massacred in July 1995. It remains Europe’s most horrifying atrocity since the Holocaust, recognised by international tribunals as genocide. But for the Tamil people of… Read more »
SSA: July 1983
by Civil Society Movement in Social Scientists Association’s ‘Polity,’ Colombo, July/August 2003 polity-vol-1.3-july-1983 Also: polity-vol-1.3-july-1983.pdf
Maison: Mass Graves of Silence
by Maison du Tamil Eelam, Paris, June 17, 2025 Maison du Tamil Eelam Mass Graves of Silence June 17 2025 Press release Sri Lanka: Mass Graves of Silence Since gaining independence, Sri Lanka has been the scene of serious, systematic human rights violations, particularly targeting a segment of its population. These abuses have left deep… Read more »
From Chemmani to Geneva
Will Sri Lanka Face Its Truth? by Wimal Navaratnam, Canada, June 30, 2025 From Chemmani to Geneva Next Steps and Future Outlook With Volker Türk’s mission now completed, attention shifts to what comes next. All parties – the UN, the Sri Lankan government, Tamil representatives, and international actors – are looking ahead to ensure that… Read more »
Justice for Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamils
by [unclear, although some analysis is provided by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and the document is supported by the Ottawa Tamil Association. the Tamil Genocide Memorial, Tamil American United PAC, the Federation of Global Tamil Organizations, the Ilankai Tamil Sangam, and the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA)], 2024 Justice… Read more »
Data from Presidential Truth Commission Report on Black July 1983
by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984, September 2002 Evidence provided to the 2002 Commission by victims who requested compensation for primarily property damage during the violence of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983’s Black July. truth-commission-list_from presidential_commission_report on ethnic violence 1981-1984 [Excel file] Data is from the report of the Presidential Commission and is… Read more »
Chemmani, Batalanda and Beyond
by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene, Sunday Times, Colombo, July 6, 2025 In a global arena where the United Nations is desperately struggling to cope with a pronounced irrelevance as the world’s ‘superpowers’ continue to pound the Gaza Strip with all its might and main, of what use are symbolic visits and symbolic messages by the champions of… Read more »
Facing the Truth of July 1983
by Kumar Rupesinghe, Sunday Observer, Colombo, July 17, 2003 See: Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984 – Ilankai Tamil Sangam Before I begin an assessment of the final report of the Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence from 1981-1984, I would like to recollect some encounters I had with former President… Read more »
The Story of Chemmani and the Graves That Refuse to Stay Buried
by Roy Fernando (SJ), Groundviews, Colombo, June 30, 2025 Some truths are not uncovered by force. They rise slowly, persistently, from the ground because the dead cannot remain forgotten forever. In the quiet village of Chemmani, nestled within the war scarred terrain of the Jaffna peninsula, a patch of soil became the unlikely custodian of… Read more »
TG Explainer – Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani Mass Graves
by Tamil Guardian, London, July 2, 2025 Krishanthi Kumaraswamy was an 18-year-old Tamil schoolgirl from Jaffna whose brutal rape and murder in 1996, along with the killing of her mother, younger brother, and a neighbour, became one of the most notorious atrocities of Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils. Her case exposed a grisly network of… Read more »
TG Explainer – What are the Chemmani Mass Graves?
by Tamil Guardian, London, June 25, 2025 Chemmani, a village on the outskirts of Jaffna, is a serene and beautiful town that has come to take on a notorious reputation. It is the site of mass graves, where potentially, hundreds of Tamils who were murdered by the Sri Lankan military lie buried. These graves date… Read more »
Türk: ‘The Haunting Past Becomes Visible’
UN human rights chief reflects on Chemmani visit by Tamil Guardian, London, June 25, 2025 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk reflected on his visit to the Chemmani mass grave site near Jaffna on Wednesday, reiterating the importance of ensuring “independent experts with forensic expertise” are allowed to be used to excavate… Read more »
Adayaalam: A Phantom that is Real
Persisting culture of surveillance and intimidation in the North-East by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Jaffna, February 2025 Adayaalam A-Phantom-that-is-Real_-Persisting-Culture-or-Surveilance-and-Intimidation-in-the-NorthEast This report sheds light on the prevailing patterns of surveillance, intimidation, and arrests that activists, civil society members, and journalists face in the North-East of Sri Lanka, and is one of the recent studies exploring… Read more »
Sri Lanka Core Group Statement June 2025
Sri Lanka Core Group statement for the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Annual Report. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders. From: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Eleanor Sanders Published 17 June 2025 Delivered on: 17 June 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) Thank you Mr… Read more »