Queering Transitional Justice in Post-war Sri Lanka

• In Event: Critical Approaches to Transitional Justice and Reconciliation

Abstract

Since the end of the war in Sri Lanka, numerous Transitional Justice efforts have been established but have failed to credibly ensure accountability. In 2023, the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe established the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (also referred to as the Truth-Finding Mechanism). The contentious legacy of transitional justice attempts in Sri Lanka presents a type of epistemic violence that perpetuates binary and hetronormative categories and colonial legacies. The nation's LGBTQI+ community has gained more prominence since the widespread repercussions of the economic crisis, albeit through a variety of channels. Currently, queer rights are central in political discourses on rights and reforms. The newly found centrality of queer rights raises further questions about how LGBTQ+ issues could, and should, be incorporated within the country’s ongoing efforts to achieve and sustain long lasting peace. This paper offers a queer, intersectional, and decolonial understanding of transitional justice in Sri Lanka, especially looking at the ongoing economic crises and efforts of the local queer community for justice and legal recognition. I undertake a comprehensive review of prior attempts at transitional justice, and conduct a thematic discourse analysis of reports, transcripts of interviews, and other materials from past truth commissions. I, further, connect the conclusions of this review with queer theory, intersectionality, and decolonial frameworks. The ways in which institutionalized identities and categories are used for socialization and regulation are made clear by a queer and intersectional study. In my work, I further elaborate on how queer perspectives could be incorporated into toolkits, like Transitional Justice, for societies following armed conflict and/or authoritarian regimes. Given the history of Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka, what the new commission offers is an opportunity to critique the transitional justice’s heteronormative foundations and assumptions about temporality and binary logics and presents a chance to rethink and reimagine transitional justice from a less violent, more inclusive standpoint.

Author

• Prateek Srivastava, University of Cincinnati