The history of Sri Lanka has for years been marked by the armed conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The conflict began in 1983 with the Tigers fighting for a State for the Tamil population of Sri Lanka which had been discriminated against politically, economically and socially. The conflict has claimed more than 65,000 lives.

Attempts for peace have ended in failure with the government breaking a cease fire agreement with the LTTE at the beginning of 2008, producing a grave escalation of violence.

• Round table

• Publication

• Interviews to Kishali Pinto, speaker in the round table about Sri Lanka

• Resources on the conflict

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Human rights in Sri Lanka

Presentation
David Bondia, Director of the Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia

“Cosmetic” commissions in Sri Lanka: Justice, truth and reconciliation?
Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, rights lawyer and media columnist, is also the Deputy director of the Civil and Political Rights Unit of The Law and Society Trust, Colombo (Sri Lanka)

Human rights and the access to justice in Sri Lanka
Dr Jayantha de Almeida Guneratne, President's Counsel; visiting academic (University of Colombo and Law College) and former Commissioner in the Southern Disappearances Commission, 1994

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: Thursday 22nd of May 2008, at 19.00
Place: Casa Àsia, Av. Diagonal 373 08008 Barcelona

Sri Lanka, 25 years of conflict

Presentation
Rafael Bueno, Director of the Departament of Conferences, Seminars and Studies at Casa Asia

Sri Lanka, a forgotten conflict?
David Bondia, Director of the Institute Human Rights of Catalonia

Keys points of the conflict and perspectives of the future
María Villellas, Investigator for the Programme of Conflicts and Construction of Peace of the Escuela Cultura de Paz

Presentation and screening of the documentary What to do?
Albert Folk, Co-director of the documentary shot in the areas most affected by the 2004 tsunami and where Service Civil International is working, an NGO that carries out voluntary work with the objective of creating peace and bringing cultures together.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: Thursday 28th of February 2008, at 19.00
Place: Casa Àsia, Av. Diagonal 373 08008 Barcelona

FURTHER INFORMATION

Programme (PDF 777Kb)

PUBLICATION

Forgotten conflicts series: Sri Lanka Derechos humanos en Kosovo – Acceso a la justicia, Asier Santillán El papel de las mujeres en Kosovo, Ana Villellas Ariño La educación en Kosovo, Ismet Potera y la Lliga dels Drets dels Pobles La salud en Kosovo. Desarrollo y discapacidad, Francesc Octavio Mata Download in PDF (in Spanish)

INTERVIEWS TO KISHALI PINTO

La Vanguardia, 4th of june 2008

Barcelona TV, Infonit, 27th of june 2008, minute 18.40

Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (ACCD), june 2008

CooperacióCat, ACCD's Magazine, Construcció de Pau i Drets Humans a Sri Lanka, june 2008, num. 26, pp. 22

RESOURCES ON THE CONFLICT

A selection of links to documents, web pages and bibliographic references on the Sri Lanka conflict.

BASICS FACTS

• Geography, population and natural resources

• Human development

• Economy

POLITICAL SYSTEM/SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

• Politial organisation

• Foreign relations

THE PEACE PROCESS

ABOUT THE CONFLICT

• Web references

• Analysis

• Bibliography

HUMAN RIGHTS

• UN

• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

• Human Rights Watch (HRW)

• Amnesty International (AI)

• Reporters Without Borders

• Intercambio internacional para la Libertad de Expresión (IFES)

MEDIA