Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
So some of you may know that Sri Lanka ended a 26-year civil war almost 2 years ago. It was a nasty, nasty, nasty war. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, property, and livelihoods over its course. In May of 2009 the Government of Sri Lanka dealt the rebel forces, the LTTE, its final blow and claimed victory after killing nearly all of the rebel leadership. This occurred after a final stand that included between 30 and 50,000 Tamil civilians trapped on a string of beach between the LTTE and government forces. It is unclear how many civilian lives were lost in this final battle for victory.
The rebels had fought for an independent Tamil land in the North and East of Sri Lanka. One might make the mistake in saying that the war was an ‘ethnic war’, as the rebels were mostly Tamil, but they would be mistaken. It, like so many civil wars, was about much more than ethnicity: land, resources, language, political representation, all of it, but I cannot get too deeply into the details right now.
The government won. The rebels lost.
Sri Lanka is considered a unified state and the Tamil people of the North and East provinces are Sri Lankans. This is not a country of only Tamil Hindus of the North/East and Sinhalese Buddhist of the rest. It is a diverse nation of Indian Tamils (Plantation –workers), Muslims, Christians, Burghers (Sri Lankan/Dutch), and more. After such a long war, and the severe destruction in the Northern region and the sense of division pervasive in Sri Lankan society calls were made to create some form of reconciliation. This came from international voices, as well as voices within Sri Lanka.
The government of Sri Lanka acquiesced and the president appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. The members are respected members of the community, and they held hearings across the country, taking testimony from the public. On the 18 of February they made a stop in the city of Galle, in the southwest of the island. My coworker and I traversed through Friday evening traffic to arrive in Galle late in the evening, to attend the public hearing the following morning.
One of the amazing things about involving the public in a government process is that the ‘public’ is a diverse group. I will not comment on the extent to which democracy has coalesced in Sri Lanka, nor will I state to what extent I believe this process will aid in the reconciliation and peacemaking for the Sri Lankan people. But I will say that one of the things about democracy that I love the most is witnessing its participatory nature.
People involved in community organizations, lawyers, public servants, academics, all gave their evidence. Women who’d lost their husbands and were being forced to move from their homes testified. Carpenters outlining incredibly complex arguments against current actions the government is taking against minority groups. Local lawyers outlining their belief in educating children in both Tamil and Sinhala…. Mothers who’d sacrificed all of their sons to the military gave testimony. Business owners who’d lost their shops in riots years ago, gave testimony. For hours we sat listening to the horrors people had experienced during the war. And this was only one hearing.
The international community continues to call for independent investigations into war crimes on the part of both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Building a sustainable and lasting peace is a long complex process, which Sri Lanka is only beginning to scratch the surface.
I’m grateful to bear witness to at least one component of it.
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