Civil society representatives from Sri Lanka’s Northern Province have called on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to give focused attention to the displacement of Northern Muslims by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the continuing hardships faced by the displaced community.
The appeal was made during Türk’s visit to Jaffna, where he met with local civil society groups as part of his official visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of the government. The High Commissioner, in discussions, emphasized the importance of resettling Muslims who were forcibly expelled from the North during the height of the civil conflict.
In 1990, the LTTE carried out a mass expulsion of Muslims from the Northern Province, displacing around 75,000 people in what has been widely condemned as an act of ethnic cleansing. Many of these families have lived in limbo for over three decades, often in temporary shelters or host communities, without adequate access to housing, livelihoods, or restitution.
Civil society members told the UN official that despite peace being restored over 15 years ago, the resettlement and reconciliation process has failed to address the plight of the displaced Muslims, leaving them marginalized and excluded from their ancestral lands.
The issue has gained renewed urgency as transitional justice and reconciliation continue to dominate Sri Lanka’s post-conflict agenda. Advocacy groups say a durable solution for displaced Muslims is essential for any meaningful reconciliation in the multi-ethnic North.
High Commissioner Türk’s visit is seen as part of ongoing international engagement on human rights, accountability, and reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka. His meetings in Jaffna come amid calls for greater attention to all affected communities, including those often overlooked in dominant narratives of the conflict.
Local Muslim leaders and rights activists are urging both national authorities and the international community to recognize the displacement of Northern Muslims as a serious human rights concern, and to ensure their right to return, restitution, and reintegration into their former communities.
