Sri Lanka Human Rights Project by The University of Sydney
"..Primary Goal This project advocates human rights norms as Sri Lanka's post-conflict situation rapidly deteriorates. In doing so, the project seeks to raise awareness about the country's censored emergency and help work towards a peaceful and just solution for the multi-ethnic people of Sri Lanka.."
About the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project
Primary Goal This project advocates human rights norms as Sri Lanka's post-conflict situation rapidly deteriorates. In doing so, the project seeks to raise awareness about the country's censored emergency and help work towards a peaceful and just solution for the multi-ethnic people of Sri Lanka
Objectives
Establish relevant links with grassroots organisations, concerned NGOs, academics and parliamentarians in Australia. The resulting networks will serve as a conduit for the dissemination of public information and as a voice for Sri Lanka’s marginalised population.
Raise public awareness of Sri Lanka’s post-conflict situation with an emphasis on its human rights emergency and
In fostering awareness amongst the constituents of the Australian public, the project seeks to create a medium for dialogue and understanding between Sri Lanka’s ethnic groups
Project description In light of the continued abuses committed in the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s civil war, the project aims to raise awareness about the country’s human rights disaster, which remains unrecognised by the greater international community. In highlighting the appalling conditions faced by Tamil people in government internment camps, the project raises calls for the Sri Lankan government to find a workable solution for the Tamil population. By encouraging the international community to develop a just environment, much needed peaceful dialogue can be further promoted amongst the multi-ethnic people of Sri Lanka.
Convenors Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Brami Jegan, Visiting Scholar, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
Gobie Rajalingam, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies Graduate
Patron Bruce Haigh, former Australian diplomat to South Africa, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
Conflict in Sri Lanka In May 2009, after 26 years of failed cease-fires and ongoing civil conflict, the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan Government declared it had defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after army forces captured the last patch of rebel held territory in the north east of the country. Nearly 215,000 people have been killed in the country’s civil war, with the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office estimating up to 20,000 civilians died in the last few months of the war.
Around 300,000 Tamils are now held in military run camps without adequate nutrition, shelter and sanitation. International aid agencies, media and the United Nations have restricted access to the camps.
Who are the Tamils? Demographically, Sri Lanka’s 19 million people consist of two main ethnic groups: the Sinhalese majority, who make up 74 % of the population, and the Tamils who comprise 18.2%. The remainder of the population include Moors (7%), Malaysians, Burghers and expatriates. The Tamil people represent both the Sri Lankan Tamils, whose ancestors have been traced back to the 3rd Century B.C.E, and the Indian Tamils, who were brought by the British to work on coconut, rubber, tea and coffee plantations throughout the 19th and 20th Century. The Sri Lankan Tamils account for around 12.7% of the population and the Indian Tamils 5.5%.
Enabling Dialogue - CPACS Forums
By empowering subjugated voices and serving as a medium for censored narratives, the CPACS forums create a platform for raising awareness about Sri Lanka’s human rights disaster and encouraging action by the Australian and international community.
Upcoming Events
Sri Lanka: Human Rights Issues and Media Representation At Monash University Tuesday, 10 November 2009 6 - 8 pm Lecture Theatre K321 (Halstead Theatre) 3rd floor, Building K, Monash University, Caulfield
8th September, 2009 – Human Rights in Sri Lanka and Australia’s Role Hosted by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, the University of Sydney; held at Federal Parliament, Canberra.
Chaired by Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, the event included addresses by: Hon. John Dowd AO QC, President of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Australia and Vice President of ICJ Geneva; Sharan Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; Dr John Whitehall, paediatrician and Associate Professor in Public Health at James Cook University; and Bruce Haigh, former Australian diplomat and Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Attended by some 40 policy makers, federal MPs and officials, the speakers examined the state of human rights in Sri Lanka and discussed the real situation faced by the country’s marginalised community today. The necessity of upholding human rights norms and protecting the persecuted people of Sri Lanka was emphasised in debates about Australia’s responsibilities in the Asia-Pacific region
31st August, 2009 – Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Emergency: Why is it being hidden and what can we do about it? Hosted by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, with the support of Amnesty International, at the University of Sydney.
Chaired by the Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Associate Professor Jake Lynch, the event drew upon former Australian diplomat and Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bruce Haigh, paediatrician and Associate Professor in Public Health at James Cook University, Dr John Whitehall and Tamil human rights advocate, Dr Sam Pari. The forum heard how the struggle of Sri Lanka’s Tamil population has become framed within the discourse of the ‘war on terror’, consequently diluting the country’s current human rights crisis in the eyes of the international community. In recounting the deprivation of needs and rights of the Tamil people, the discussion echoed the calls of the 300,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who remain in the country’s internment camps.
27th May, 2009 – Media Complicity: Reporting Gaza and Sri Lanka Hosted by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney
Chaired by the Director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, Professor Wendy Bacon, the event drew upon three key speakers: Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Associate Professor Jake Lynch; Executive Producer of ABC’s World Today, Peter Cave; and journalist/author of ‘My Israel Question’ and ‘The Blogging Revolution’, Antony Loewenstein. Together, the speakers discussed the consequences of media censorship and how control over expression, opinion and information can lead to propaganda. Alluding to Sri Lanka and Gaza, the forum’s speakers highlighted the importance of the media in conflict situations, further suggesting how the media should be operate in such environments.
Press Gallery
Participants in the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project have written or appeared in the following articles:
