In 1981 the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) published a report by Professor Virginia Leary on Ethnic Violence in Sri Lanka, which Mr. Paul Sieghart describes as ‘essential reading’ for a full understanding of recent events in Sri Lanka.
A second edition of that report was published in August 1983, updated by the ICJ staff with a summary of subsequent developments, including the tragic outburst of communal violence in July, 1983.
Shortly before this outburst occurred the ICJ, aware of the increasing tensions, approached the Sri Lanka Government with a view to sending another mission to the country.
A few days before the events of July 24, the Government replied that it could not entertain such a mission. However, some months later President Jayewardene, in response to an inquiry, renewed an invitation he had previously made to Mr. Sieghart, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Justice, the British Section of the ICJ, to visit Sri Lanka as a guest of the Government.
Like the ICJ, Mr. Sieghart has over the years taken a keen interest in Sri Lanka, a country which, in spite of all difficulties, has persistently maintained since Independence a parliamentary democracy dedicated to upholding freedom under the Rule of Law.
Sri Lanka-mounting tragedy of errors-fact finding mission report-1984-eng (full text in English, PDF)