Brutality and Violence Escalate in Sri Lanka: Prominent Activists and Journalists Targeted

10/22/2012

"What does it mean to call a country democratic when government critics are exiled and branded terrorists? Who decides what is patriotic and what is not? Whose voices are actually being heard? Whose rights are really being protected?" -- Sunila Abeysekera, Prominent Sri Lankan Human Rights Activist.

Sometimes winners lose.

It's a hard pill to swallow for any activist. After years of struggling to end a violent armed conflict, to usher one's country from a state of "war" to a state of "peace," that the post-war environment should emerge as more corrupt and less safe can be downright disheartening.

In Sri Lanka, those who worked tirelessly to help end the decades-long war are losing the very thing they've fought for, peace and reconciliation. Sri Lankan activists, journalists and outspoken government critics are being arrested, disappeared, tortured and exiled for daring to challenge the Sri Lankan government on its policies during the final phase of the 30-year war against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE). Many of these same activists were once praised for their work in Sri Lanka, while included in international efforts to bring the war to a responsible end. Now, government-sponsored media outlets are vilifying them for speaking against the way in which their government "won" the war in 2009 and thereafter.

One of those brave Sri Lankan activists, Sunila Abeysekera, is the feature of this month's Faces Of Change blog.

The first time I saw Sunila in action was in Nepal in 2003.

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