State-Based Truth Commissions

doi:10.1017/9781108380072.008

6 - State-Based Truth Commissions

The Case of Postwar Sri Lanka

from Part II - Law, Justice, and Hope

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2019

Jessica Chandrashekar

Edited by

Nergis Canefe

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Nergis Canefe: Affiliation:
York University, Toronto

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Summary

This chapter illustrates the role state-based truth commissions have in postwar nation-building when they are conducted during the resettlement of those who were forcibly displaced during the conflict. By drawing on the case of Sri Lanka, I examine transcripts of testimonies made to the “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” (LLRC) during the commission’s field visits to war-affected communities in the Northern Province. The historical moment in which the LLRC took place was during the resettlement of Tamils who were displaced during the final stages of the war. This chapter examines the role of the Commission in the process of resettling those who were forcibly displaced by war, and what I suggest being the forced “placement” of Tamil war survivors into the postwar Sri Lankan nation-state.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Transitional Justice and Forced Migration
Critical Perspectives from the Global South
, pp. 135 - 157

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108380072.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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