Reconciliation and lasting peace will elude Sri Lanka for as long as there is no accountability for massacres and atrocities, the advocacy group PEARL has said.

In a statement marking 22 years since the Kumarapuram massacre, the organisation said “justice for this case, amongst many, remains crucial for healing processes to commence.”

Reiterating the barriers to justice within the Sri Lankan judicial system, as found in the organisation’s 2017 report on the massacre, PEARL said:

“Nearly nine years after the end of the armed conflict, security forces continue to intimidate victim-survivors across the North-East. Militarization in the Tamil region is rampant and perpetrators of countless of mass atrocity crimes remain free. Today’s election result in the Sinhala south has reaffirmed the precarious existence of Tamils and minorities on the island. Already slim hopes for progress on political reforms and transitional justice mechanisms are in tatters. The failure of the government to tackle difficult issues head-on, including impunity for mass atrocity crimes and the toxic nature of Sinhala nationalism which triggered the conflict, has resulted in a Sri Lanka which is once again becoming more dangerous for the Tamil-speaking people. The international community’s premature lauding of progress contributed to this government’s lack of political will. This must change.”

See full statement here.