Sri Lanka

The civil war in Sri Lanka raged on for more than 25 years between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) before coming to an end in 2009. The Sri Lanka Army, backed by the government, emerged as the victors of the war and suppressed the Tamil Tigers fight for indepedence. Two years later the UN Security Council published a report that denounced the crimes committed by the government of Sri Lanka during the final stages of the civil war. The document discusses serious violations of human rights and massive amounts of under reported casualities. Five years after the hostilities ended, the country is still highly militarised and a large number of Tamil people are still living in refugee camps. There has been no progress on a legitimate process of truth and accountability for the war-time abuses. Furthermore, the Tamil people are still facing low income living conditions and an overall decline in democratic and human rights standards with very few opportunities for change.