In this article Faye discusses the experience of objects and post conflict regions. She is a student journalist with us on a placement organised by the Oxford University Career Services. This article was edited using Lex.page.
🎧 listen to Faye’s backstory here - she discusses her motivation & research as well.
Fighting Identities: autonomy, justice, and reconciliation in post-conflict Sri Lanka
May 2009, Sri Lankan military ended nearly 30 years of civil war by capturing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE sought an independent Tamil state, claiming discrimination from the Sinhala-majority government.
In April 2011, a UN report called the final months of the conflict a “flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians” by both government and LTTE forces, during which 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed. Widespread shelling, denial of humanitarian assistance, and use of civilians as human shields inflicted huge losses of life in the north and east where the fighting primarily occurred.
The years after saw the introduction of reconciliation programs to heal the wounds of civil war. The programs opted for the rehabilitation and reintegration of former LTTE combatants into their communities over retributive justice. By providing education, social support, skill training, and other resources to those previously radicalized, including 500 child combatants, these programs seek to move beyond the conflict. They seem successful with a zero recidivism rate.
The tentative peace is threatened by many tensions. International allegations of human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government and LTTE cells remain unaddressed. Visions for the future of Tamil ethnic identity have splintered, with tension between traditional and modern beliefs, and those seeking to move past ethnic labels. Bombings by National Thowheeth Jama’ath in April 2019 revived Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, but the roots of the 30-year conflict – economic and political disparity between the Sinhala majority and ethnic minority groups – remain unresolved.
The Sri Lankan Civil War
Where do the roots of this conflict lie?
During British colonial rule in Sri Lanka, English as the language limited the 6.6 million from white-collar jobs despite being 70% of the population. After independence, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike introduced a Sinhala-Only policy in 1956 to provide economic opportunities for the marginalized Sinhala majority at the expense of Tamil, Burgher, and other minority communities. The succeeding government, led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, introduced a Standardisation Policy in 1971, which lowered university admission criteria for Sinhalese students.
As researcher in cultural histories and fundamental rights, says, these policies "triggered Tamil aspirations for a separate state” (Dharmawardhane, 2013, p. 31). The LTTE was founded by Velupillai Prabhakaran in 1972, and by 1975, was responsible for killing the Tamil Mayor of Jaffna for supporting the mainstream Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP).
Over 30 years, the LTTE became what Dharmawardhane calls “the only guerrilla-cum-terrorist group in the world [with] an infantry”. It included a suicide commando unit, maritime and air wings, and an intelligence unit. Its terror tactics included child soldier abduction, forced money collection from Tamils, "ethnic cleansing” of Sinhalese and Muslims from North and East Sri Lanka, and political assassinations, including those of over 40 mainstream Tamil leaders.
After the civil conflict, calls for a separatist state have weakened since the defeat of the LTTE. Despite less overt ethnic discrimination, research shows economic structural violence towards Tamil groups (Fernando, 2019). Three years post-war, no constitutional changes have facilitated equal Tamil representation in parliament (Goodhand, 2012), and it wasn't until 2015, with a change in government, that a transitional justice agenda, recommended by international bodies, was adopted.
How can the country heal from the conflict?
A New Justice Approach: Rehabilitation over Retribution
Sri Lankan government's reconciliation programs have been successful in achieving their goals. Within two years of the conflict's end, 250,000 people, 95% of the 'internally displaced,' have been resettled. By March 2012, only 6022 remained in resettlement camps, as reported (Gunaratna, 2012).
Sri Lankan governments have chosen rehabilitation over retribution for the 10,000+ former LTTE combatants. Instead of seeking vengeance, they treat them as victims of a terrorist organization, in need of disengagement and deradicalization. A Presidential Amnesty, issued at the conflict's end, was just the first step.
The private sector, media enterprises, and civil society leaders, along with communities, have designed a “Way-Forward on Rehabilitation, Reinsertion and Reintegration” (W-RRR) plan in collaboration with Sri Lanka’s Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation (BCGR). The “6 + 1 Model” rehabilitation program tackles various aspects of reintegration:
Educational Rehabilitation
Vocational Rehabilitation
Psychosocial and Creative Therapies for Rehabilitation
Social, Cultural, and Family Rehabilitation
Spiritual and Religious Rehabilitation
Recreational Rehabilitation
Community Engagement
The rehabilitation program offers guaranteed wage employment in the Civil Defence and Navy Coastguard, or support for self-employment in micro-financial and entrepreneurial pursuits. For those not joining the government sector, a three-month reinsertion assistance package fulfills basic needs of shelter, food, clothing, and healthcare.
In the north and east, where Tamil groups are concentrated, there's improved agricultural productivity, lower cost of goods and services, and higher growth rates seeking to improve living conditions of the economically marginalised. Jaffna, a major city for Tamil communities, had 22% in 2012, compared to the country's 7%.
Although the established Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) was heavily critiqued for its lack of independence, witness protection capacity, and function as a monitor for accountability on human rights abuses, the 2015 Consultation Task Force (CTF) has been more comprehensive. Their 2017 report spanned over 800 pages, with over 7300 responses from every part of the country. The action towards introducing formal justice and rehabilitation measures by Sri Lankan governments is wide-ranging and holistic.
Is justice enough?
Are opportunities to speak in front of CTF hearings and undergo rehabilitation programs enough? Reinsertion packages for those uninterested in government work were insufficieneeds. Manyncial and material needs, and many who underwent rehabilitation still lacked the skills for regular employment or self-employment (Dharmawardhane, 2013). Teconomy has disproportionately affected Tamil and other ethnic minority groups,war militarization of the economy, including military officers competing with civilians in businesses and state-authodevelopment. and other ethnic minority groups.
Development studies professor Jonathan Goodhand emphasizes the heated land issues in Jaffna and fears government support for Sinhalese immigration to Tamil-dominated areas. The frequent fighting means "housing and access to sustainable livelihoods remain a problem” (Goodhand, 2012, p. 133).
Do transitional justice mechanisms prioritize the needs of local victims or legitimize government neglect in other areas?
Visions for the future of Sri Lanka
There is no consensus on the future Tamil identity. A survey of 60 Tamil participants froand Batticaloa by Kalyani Thurairajah found three outlooks: some regretted the loss of traditional conservative Tamil identity enforced by the LTTE, others mourned the disruption of the Tamil community's role in Sri Lankan development and embraced modernization. The third group had no vision for a ‘Tamil’ ethnic identity, fearing it could lead to ethnic conflict.
The situation remains complex and unstable, with limited risk of the civil war resurgence. The root causes of the LTTE-Sri Lankan government conflict remain unaddressed. The way forward requires a critical evaluation of current justice and reconciliation mechanisms, their incentives, the ethnic groups they benefit, and why these divisions exist.
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