Analysis & Opinions - War on the Rocks

How to Get Away with Mass Murder: Denying Mass Atrocities in Sri Lanka and Syria

| May 18, 2017

"Our troops went to the battlefront with a gun in one hand, and the Human Rights Charter in the other." The imagery is striking. All the more so because it was invoked (repeatedly) by then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, defending Sri Lanka's military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the face of credible allegations that his forces had slaughtered tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, the claim was jaw-droppingly brazen. Yet, as the evidence mounted, the Rajapaksa government and its representatives continued to dispute not only its culpability, but also the very fact of mass civilian death....

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For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Cronin-Furman, Kate.“How to Get Away with Mass Murder: Denying Mass Atrocities in Sri Lanka and Syria.” War on the Rocks, May 18, 2017.

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