The Treasury has allocated a sum of Rs. 72.3 million [US$ 723,000] to compensate the victims of ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed a Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence on 23rd July 2001 to inquire into acts of ethnic violence between the years 1981 to 1984, particularly during the holocaust of July 1983.

The Commission submitted its findings and recommendations to the President on 30th September 2002. The three-member Commission identified 937 cases that need to be compensated. The Commission deemed that the victims, their dependants or heirs should be compensated as a matter of right and not as a matter of charity.

The Commission in its report also said “We need to add that the Commission strongly recommends the payment of simple legal interest on the amount of compensation, calculated from 1984 till payment in full, as such payment will be a reasonable for the delay in the discharge of the obligations of the State in paying compensations.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga who is the Minister of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation will personally hand the full compensation to thirty randomly selected recipients on Friday 23rd July, 2004 at a ceremony at the President’s House. A senior official of the Rehabilitation Ministry said all recipients who are resident in Sri Lanka will receive their compensation by the end of August 2004. The Ministry is in the process of contacting the persons now domiciled overseas.

The three-member Commission comprised Retired Chief Justice S. Sharvananda, President’s Counsel S. S. Sahabandu and M. M. Zuhair.


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