State of the World's Minorities 2006 - Sri Lanka

Within Sri Lanka during 2004, the peace negotiations (which had been stalled in the previous year) remained suspended. During the period January 2004-August 2005, both the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) violated the provisions of the 2002 accord on numerous occasions. The situation was further exacerbated by the split within LTTE itself. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, the eastern commander, broke ranks with the main party on 3 March 2004, claiming neglect and poor treatment of eastern Tamils. Fighting between the two LTTE groups erupted in early April and continued intermittently for several months. The Tamils, as a minority, complained of continuing systematic discrimination in areas such as employment, higher education and housing. However, an ongoing and unfortunate feature of the conflict has not only been the torture and brutalization perpetuated by the governmental security forces, but also the political killings by LTTE, targeting of Tamil splinter groups and the enforced recruitment of children as soldiers. The recruitment of children is particularly tragic; it extends to both young boys and girls and is in violation of all norms and values of international law. The fragile peace between the government and the Tamil Tigers was further strained after the assassination of the Sri Lankan foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar on 12 August 2005. Mr Kadirgamar, although a Tamil himself, had been highly critical of the terms of the peace agreement, which he perceived as unfairly favourable towards the Tamils. During the period January 2004-August 2005, the indigenous peoples of Sri Lanka, the Veddas made claims of 'land-grabbing' and abuse.