Essay On Genocide In Sri Lanka

Tamils in Sri Lanka: Victims of Genocide or Politicide?
The civil war in Sri Lanka went on for almost thirty years, and has been a huge human rights debate since it began because of the awful things committed by both sides, and after so many unnecessary deaths, finally ended in 2009 when the Sri Lankan government overwhelmed the rebels. It involved the Sinhalese community, who are the majority community in the country, and the armed insurrection of Tamils, who referred to themselves officially the “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam.” Many Tamils were not satisfied with their treatment under Sri Lankan rule and tried to separate from that power and create a whole new country in northern Sri Lanka where the majority lived. It started with small attacks by a few men who took up arms and escalated into war over the next three decades and …show more content…
I believe instead that this specific incident is an example of politicide, because the government did most of the killing and it was mostly because of a war. While these were still of course outrageous war crimes, they were committed by both sides and the Tigers killed their fair share of Sinhalese civilians too. It was no surprise that the Sri Lankan government fought back in a similar way and crushed the rebellion after over 26 years of fighting. Of course, the fighting all started because of the oppression of the Tamils and they had few choices, but they committed similar crimes during the war that the Sri Lankan government did. This is of course overshadowed by the fact that Sri Lanka is a government and should have the good of its people in mind and make sure that its inhabitants are safe. As far as I’m concerned, this civil war and its atrocities were more fitting of politicide than of genocide, and those involved should be held