Reports

Open Wounds and Mounting Dangers

Blocking Accountability for Grave Abuses in Sri Lanka

The 93-page report, “Open Wounds and Mounting Dangers: Blocking Accountability for Grave Abuses in Sri Lanka,” examines efforts by the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to thwart justice in seven prominent human rights cases. It describes the current context of government repression of activists, journalists, lawyers, and the families of victims, as well as threats against vulnerable minorities. The United Nations Human Rights Council, at its session beginning February 22, 2021, should adopt a resolution upholding justice for serious international crimes in Sri Lanka and condemning ongoing abuses.

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  • Down to Business

    The Human Rights Council’s Backlog of Work

    As it enters its second year, the Council must take hold of the many situations that “require the HRC’s attention,” and take action of some sort to address them. The HRC’s efforts to address these situations will provide an important indication of its ability to fulfil the purpose for which it was created.

  • Return to War

    Human Rights under Siege

    The Sri Lankan government is responsible for unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations since the resumption of major hostilities with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2006.

  • Complicit in Crime

    State Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group

    In this 100-page report, Human Rights Watch documents a pattern of abductions and forced recruitment by the Karuna group in Sri Lanka over the past year.

  • Improving Civilian Protection in Sri Lanka

    Recommendations for the Government and the LTTE

    This 58-page briefing paper makes 34 recommendations to the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), known as the Tamil Tigers, to better protect civilians.

  • Swept Under the Rug

    Abuses against Domestic Workers Around the World

    This 93-page report synthesizes Human Rights Watch research since 2001 on abuses against women and child domestic workers originating from or working in El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

  • Funding the "Final War"

    LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora

    This 45-page report details how representatives of the LTTE and pro-LTTE groups use unlawful pressure among Tamil communities in the West to secure financial pledges. People were told that if they did not pay the requested sum, they would not be able to return to Sri Lanka to visit family members.

  • Living in Fear

    Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka

    This 80 page report includes firsthand testimonies from dozens of children from northeastern Sri Lanka who have been recruited by the Tamil Tigers since the ceasefire came into effect. Children described rigorous and sometimes brutal military training, including training with heavy weapons, bombs and landmines.

  • Empty Promises

    Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard Against Torture

    Individuals suspected of terrorism should never be returned to a country where they risk torture and ill-treatment.

  • Child Soldier Use 2003

    A Briefing for the 4th UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict

    Throughout 2003 thousands of children were deployed as combatants, to commit abuses against civilians, as sex slaves, forced labourers, messengers, informants and servants in continuing and newly erupting conflicts.

  • Sri Lanka: Human Rights and the Peace Process

    The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are preparing for negotiations aimed at resolving more than two decades of conflict over political control of the island's Tamil-dominated north and east. Talks are to be held in Thailand, possibly as early as July.

  • Sri Lanka: Stop Killings of Civilians

    Following the outbreak of the third phase of the Sri Lankan civil war on April 19, 1995, the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE engaged in acts of violence that had by July claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians.

  • Halt Repatriation of Sri Lankan Tamils

    In August 1993, the Indian government repatriated nearly 7,000 of the more than 80,000 Sri Lankan Tamils then residing in government-run refugee camps in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The refugees fled northeastern Sri Lanka in June 1990 after fighting broke out between government forces and a guerrilla army.

  • Human Rights Accountability in Sri Lanka

    The issue of accountability for past human rights abuses gained considerable prominence in the 1980s as unprecedented global political change focused attention on the crimes of ousted regimes.