Country: Sri Lanka
Group: Tamil
Date Finalized: 04/10/2023
Team: Hannah Lux (lead) David Hammerle, Nichole Dahlen, Ash Pessaran, Madison Chester, Stefania Lavadao
Content Warning: Lethal violence
Approximate Time Period: 1950s-1980s
Sri Lanka has a population of around 3.1 million Tamil people, primarily Hindu, residing in the northern and eastern parts of the country (Minority Rights Groups, 2018). Since their arrival, the Sinhalese and Tamil communities have experienced tension due to power disputes (Anandakugan, 2020). The Tamils formed groups such as the Tamil Eelam Liberation Front to fight against the Sinhalese who discriminated against them (Jayawardena, 2020). In 2009, the LTTE held Tamil civilians as hostages (Human Rights Watch, 2019). The Sinhalese government was undeterred. They attacked; killing hundreds of Tamil civilians (Minority Rights Groups, 2018). A civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) occurred from 1983 to 2009, and the LTTE fought for Tamil autonomy and a separate state of Eelam (Jayawardena, 2020). There is no evidence of the Sri Lankan Tamils facing lethal violence today. The data quality is rated a 3/3 because there was substantial evidence from reliable sources suggesting lethal violence against the Tamil.
Sources
- Jayawardena, P. (2020). Sri Lankan out-migration: Five key waves since independence. University of Colombo Review, 1(1), 108. https://doi.org/10.4038/ucr.v1i1.32
- Minority Rights Group International. “Tamils.” Minority Rights Group International, 2021, https://minorityrights.org/minorities/tamils/.
- Human Rights Watch. (2019) “Sri Lanka: No Justice for Trinco 5.” Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/08/sri-lanka-no-justice-trinco-5.