1/3 Chicago Public Radio expose Mahinda Brothers atrocities

Sunila Abeysekera — Director of INFORM human rights documentation center in Sri Lanka, honored as a Human Rights Watch Defender at the 2007 Voices for Justice Dinner Fred Abrahams -- Senior Researcher for Emergencies, Human Rights Watch. Sri Lanka is a multiethnic country—with a Sinhalese Buddhist majority, a mostly Hindu Tamil minority, and smaller groups of Muslims and Christians. Like its ethnic makeup, Sri Lanka's conflict is extremely complex.




After independence, many Tamils felt repressed by policies introduced by the Sinhalese government. This led to the formation of armed groups—including the Tamil Tigers—who now wage war against the government, fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the North and East of the country.

A ceasefire was signed in 2002. But fighting has escalated in the last two years.

Sunila Abeysekera directs the Sri Lankan human rights group INFORM. She's spent the past 20 years documenting human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

Sunila has worked with Human Rights Watch for many of those years. She's currently helping them lobby for a UN monitoring mission in Sri Lanka.

Sunila was recently touring the U.S. with Human Rights Watch's Fred Abrahams. Fred is a Senior Researcher for Human Rights Watch's Emergencies program.

Worldview Producer Andrea Wenzel spoke with Sunila and Fred when they were in Chicago. Fred explained what he thinks are the most critical human rights concerns in Sri Lanka today.

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