Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership, the Sri Lankan civil war reached a brutal conclusion on May 18, 2009, ending a 25-year-long conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist rebel group. Rooted in longstanding grievances, including discriminatory policies against Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, the conflict saw the [...]
Search Results for: war crimes in Sri Lanka
Explainer: Competing Legislative Agendas Come to a Head in Sri Lanka
The year 2024 is an important one for Sri Lanka. It is a presidential election year, and a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council to gather evidence of international crimes for use in future prosecutions is due for renewal. After the public ousters of the former-elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2023, Ranil Wickremesinghe [...]
Rohingya refugees appeal to UN to keep Sri Lanka office open
Several Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka protested outside the UN refugee agency’s office this week due to the announced closure of its Sri Lanka office at the end of 2024. The refugees also submitted an appeal to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, calling for the agency not to abandon them without arranging [...]
Sri Lanka to establish independent commission for truth and reconciliation
The Sri Lankan government announced Friday the establishment an independent Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation through an act introduced in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. The government stated that the commission is intended to “ensure an inclusive process in developing legislation that strengthens and safeguards national unity through truth, transitional justice, reconciliation, reparation and social cohesion.” The [...]
Stephen Rapp, an American lawyer and diplomat, has been a leading figure in international criminal law and human rights. He was appointed as the US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues in 2009, overseeing investigations and prosecutions of war criminals worldwide. Rapp’s commitment to justice and ending impunity was evident during his tenure, supporting [...]
The Unfulfilled Duty: 75 Years of the Universal Declaration and Genocide Convention
This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On December 9 we see the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, signed on the December 9, 1948, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed 75 years ago. It represents an an important occasion that aims to raise [...]
Global dispatch: international reporting and views on Israel-Gaza conflict vary
In this first-of-its-kind JURIST “global dispatch” on a single topic, 15 law students and young lawyers from around the world, all of them JURIST correspondents from outside of Israel and Palestine, join together to offer a panoramic view of how the current Gaza conflict is unfolding in their countries and regions. Beyond the headlines, they [...]
Amnesty International on Monday accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook, of contributing to human rights abuses against the Tigrayan community in Ethiopia, stemming from an armed conflict between forces aligned with Ethiopia’s federal government and forces affiliated with Tigray’s regional government. Amnesty International says the abuses escalated to war crimes and crimes against humanity, [...]
Opinion – Echoes of History: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and the Ghost of Colonialism Past
Editors’ note: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israel, as a result of which at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. In the days since, Israeli forces have launched a counter-offensive in Gaza that has taken thousands of Palestinian lives, according to local reports. As tensions continue [...]
The Sinhalese and the Legacy of Sri Lanka’s Black July Pogroms
In the summer of 1983, ethnic violence swept the island nation of Sri Lanka. Known as Black July, the outbreak of communal violence between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority communities left thousands dead and hundreds missing. Four decades later, the legacy of the violence lives on, searing Sri Lanka‘s social and political landscape. This [...]