The International Truth and Justice Project - #SriLanka. Documenting torture and sexual violence by the security forces in #lka.
Johannesburg, South Africa
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@hrdag and the ITJP have been engaged in a long-term effort to restore the names and identities of those killed and disappeared in Sri Lanka since 1958, ensuring they are remembered with dignity and historical accuracy.
We are releasing the names of individuals who were killed or disappeared during the period of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) deployment (October 1987 to March 1990) in the Northern and Eastern provinces: lkdd.itjpsl.com
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Part 1: The Chemmani Mass Graves
The ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka, speaks about the crime of enforced disappearances committed in Sri Lanka.
Tamil families have searched for decades for their disappeared, testifying before numerous commissions and joining numerous protests. The discovery of remains at Chemmani is a potential crime scene, raising deeply disturbing questions about the circumstances in which the individuals died and the efforts that have been made to conceal their deaths.
We need to ensure that the Chemmani mass grave isn’t just an archaeological site exercise. Each body must be treated with dignity, each must be identified and each must be properly investigated.
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"Sri Lanka’s military was accused of sexually abusing minors while serving as United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti. SL government acknowledged that they were punished by dismissal.
But dsmissal is not justice; it is impunity." @francesharris0n @itjpsl
passblue.com/2026/09/16/the-…
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“The Punishment for Peacekeepers Raping Haitian Children Was Dismissal” by the ITJP’s Yasmin Sooka and @francesharris0n .
Read the full op-ed here: passblue.com/2026/09/16/the-…
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Statement by the International Truth and Justice Project in Commemorating the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
The International Truth and Justice Project stands in solidarity with the tens of thousands of families across Sri Lanka who continue to search for their loved ones on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Enforced disappearances do not end with the abduction, and condemns families to decades of uncertainty, suspended grief and recurring trauma - not knowing whether a loved one is alive or dead, their whereabouts or the fate they suffered.
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The Sri Lankan Government must protect Chemmani's integrity and ensure a transparent chain of custody, independent forensic and DNA expertise, meaningful participation by families, protection of witnesses and investigators, and public reporting consistent with the investigation. Identification must proceed with informed consent and safeguards for privacy and dignity. The investigation must follow the evidence and pursue all those responsible, including those bearing command or superior responsibility, regardless of rank or office.
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Repeated domestic failures prolong the violation, deepen families' trauma and reinforce impunity. States and the United Nations should press for independent international participation and oversight at Chemmani, support evidence preservation, and pursue international accountability measures, including universal-jurisdiction cases and targeted sanctions where legal thresholds are met. Thirty years after Chemmani first came to light, families are still searching. They are entitled not to sympathy alone, but to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. They should not have to pass this search to another generation.
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More than 500 sets of human remains have now been uncovered at the Chemmani mass grave. Behind every set of remains is a family that has spent decades searching for answers, living with the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to their loved ones. Yet for many, even the discovery of a mass grave does not bring closure.
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Read "Chemmani Mass Grave: We Are Still Searching" to understand why Chemmani is not simply an archaeological excavation, but a continuing human rights crisis. itjpsl.com/reports/chemmani-…
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ITJP retweeted
"Excavation is not an investigation."
At a Geneva conference, U.N. officials, international legal experts and accountability advocates urged Sri Lanka to launch a criminal investigation into the Chemmani mass grave, saying the discovery of nearly 500 human skeletons provides sufficient grounds to identify and prosecute those responsible.
Read more: jaffnamonitor.com/featured/u…
@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @EUinSriLanka @ICJ_org @amnesty @hrw @itjpsl
#Chemmani #SriLanka #HumanRights #Accountability #TransitionalJustice #JusticeForTheDisappeared #EnforcedDisappearances
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ITJP retweeted
Please join us for a discussion about the 2nd Anniversary of Bangladesh’s July Revolution. Our panelists will include @NabilaIdris, @badiulm and @nakib77. For those who cannot join the live broadcast, we will post links to the video on @rtoforg social media channels.
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ITJP retweeted
Four people die trying to cross Channel in small boats bbc.in/4hKvmZQ
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ITJP retweeted
Two years after Bangladesh's monsoon uprising, the former student leaders, now politicians, feel they have no option but to resort to street politics. All those deaths seem so pointless. What really was the point in the end?
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ITJP retweeted
starting NOW online - #chemmani mass grave discussion with UN and victims' lawyers from #SriLanka. #lka
LIVESTREAMING TODAY at 14:30 Geneva/ 18:00 Sri Lanka.
Join ITJP’s Executive Director Yasmin Sooka, Ingrid Massage, a researcher with extensive experience in international advocacy, accountability, and justice, Senior Counsel K. S. Ratnavale, Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), and Johann Soufi, Head of the UN OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project, for a discussion on Sri Lanka’s biggest mass grave.
Livestream Link:
piped.video/live/mKVe5431Cxg…
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LIVESTREAMING TODAY at 14:30 Geneva/ 18:00 Sri Lanka.
Join ITJP’s Executive Director Yasmin Sooka, Ingrid Massage, a researcher with extensive experience in international advocacy, accountability, and justice, Senior Counsel K. S. Ratnavale, Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), and Johann Soufi, Head of the UN OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project, for a discussion on Sri Lanka’s biggest mass grave.
Livestream Link:
piped.video/live/mKVe5431Cxg…
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TOMORROW- ONLINE EVENT: WE ARE STILL SEARCHING - Chemmani Mass Graves
Join ITJP’s Executive Director Yasmin Sooka, Ingrid Massage, a researcher with extensive experience in international advocacy, accountability, and justice, Senior Counsel K. S. Ratnavale, Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), and Johann Soufi, Head of the UN OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project, for a discussion on Sri Lanka’s biggest mass grave.
Together, they will examine three decades of evidence, institutional failure, and the urgent need for truth, accountability, and justice for the disappeared and their families.
The event will be live-streamed on YouTube on the 30th of July, 14:30 Geneva/ 18:00 Sri Lanka.
Livestream Link:
piped.video/live/mKVe5431Cxg
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