Case Studies

[Background] [Project Work] [Links] [Resources] [Gallery]

Background

The conflict in Sri Lanka dates back to its history as a colony of Britain. Although Ceylon (as it was then called) was colonised by the Portuguese in 1505, and later taken over by the Dutch, neither was able to establish complete control over the island. However, in 1815, the British extended control over the whole country with a centralized administrative and governing body in its capital city Colombo. Ceylon gained independence in 1948 and changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.

Sri Lanka is populated by a variety of ethnic groups, the two largest being the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. As a result of state policies to affirm control over Sri Lanka, for example the 'Sinhala Only Act' of 1956 that established Sinhala as the official state language, Tamil speakers were excluded from government posts and further marginalised. This legislation was part of a growing sense of antagonistic and separatist nationalism between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. In response, disaffected Tamil youth formed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and are engaged in fighting the Sri Lankan Government army forces to create a separate Tamil state in the North and East. After over twenty years of civil war, more than 70,000 people have been killed and 750,000 displaced.

July of 1983 is considered the watershed moment when the war began. On July 23rd, the ambushing and massacre of a military patrol by Tamil militants incited four days of anti-Tamil pogroms in Colombo. A spiral of violence ensued, where the LTTE and government armed forces have been locked in a protracted armed struggle. Tamil and Sinhalese border villages of the North and East have been victims of more concentrated violence in retaliatory massacres between the warring parties. The armed fighting in this war has also included aerial bombing, trench style battles, suicide bombings and targeted assassinations. Hundreds of thousands of people in the North and East, predominantly of the Tamil community have been displaced and have been living internally displaced camps for over ten to fifteen years.

In 2002, the most hopeful attempt at peaceful resolution was struck with Norwegian mediation, when after two decades of intense fighting; the LTTE and government signed a ceasefire agreement although the conflict continued sporadically. The country was put under further pressure in December 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami killed over 30,000 people and displaced approximately a million. In February 2006 peace negotiations began again briefly, under a newly elected Sri Lankan president, only to be suspended soon after. Subsequently, the country has experienced ongoing violence which has escalated to aerial bombardment in particular areas.