The outbreak of anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka did change the course of the nation’s history. Extensively organised anti-Tamil riots took place in Colombo and South of Sri Lanka. The riots lasted for several days and left over 3,000 Tamils dead and millions of dollars worth of their property were destroyed. Rather than stopping the genocide the Sri Lankan politicians, police, armed forces as well as the Buddhist clergy actively took part in many of the murders and rapes. Sinhalese community systematically attacked Tamils and destroy Tamil property, and the riots create a movement of refugees within the island. Thousands of Tamils fled to Tamil Nadu, Europe and North America.

The government headed by President Jayawardene refused to condemn the riots and did not even release a statement until after four days of mayhem. In 2004 President Chandrika Kumaratunga made a token apology to the nation. The “apology” was accompanied by nominal compensation to some of the victims. Just 72.3 million rupees [$US702,000] was promised. To this day no one knew whether this was paid or not for the injuries and destruction Tamils suffered. Leaving aside the cost in lives, the loss of property alone in 1983 has been estimated to run into billions of rupees.

This web library is dedicated to the innocent Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan Sinhalese community. Should you wish to share your experiences please drop me am email. I am trying to build this as a library to publish or link relevant materials, articles, evidence, statements and photographs. Your comments, suggestions and contributions are most welcome.

Genocide (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide New York, 9 December 1948)

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines the term as: Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Sri Lanka 12 Oct 1950 (Accession)

The Legal Definition of Genocide

The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

Article II describes two elements of the crime of genocide:

1)the mental element, meaning the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”, and
2)the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called “genocide.”

Article III described five punishable forms of the crime of genocide: genocide; conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity. (Click here for more)

Genocide – Wikipedia article & Links
Genocide – Wiktionary Definition