On November 13, Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights hosted an event titled "Accountability, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Role of the International Community," a discussion between panelists Kate Cronin-Furman and Thyagi Ruwanpathirana on the Sri Lankan civil war and the search for remedy of harms suffered by Sri Lankans during those years of conflict.
Victims of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict have been seeking truth, justice and reparations for the abuses and violations of international law committed during the nearly three-decade long war. Domestic transitional justice efforts have been largely piecemeal, with no real political will to address longstanding grievances. In addition to the change of government and their commitments to operationalize a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission victims are largely skeptical of, the panel discussed the role of the international community to ensure that Sri Lanka’s victims of grave human rights violations and abuses find redress.
Panelists:
Kate Cronin-Furman studies mass atrocities. She is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at University College London, where she directs the MA in Human Rights. Cronin-Furman received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia in October 2015 and has held fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. In addition, she has a J.D. and has practiced law in New York, Cambodia, and The Hague.
Thyagi Ruwanpathirana is the 2024 Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Fellow, hosted jointly by the Human Rights Program and the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World at Harvard Law School. As the Tiruchelvam Fellow, her research project focuses on the creation of an enabling environment for a post-conflict Truth Commission that meets the needs of the victims of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict. Thyagi works as Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Office in Colombo, Sri Lanka since 2018. After having completed her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Warwick, UK in 2010, Thyagi obtained her Master of Law (LLM) in Human Rights in 2011 from Birkbeck College, University of London.
This event was co-sponsored by the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World, Human Rights Program, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights.
Harvard Law School