Declaration in Support of the Peace Process in Sri Lanka (Oslo Declaration)

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Country/entity: Sri Lanka
Region: Asia and Pacific
Agreement name: Declaration in Support of the Peace Process in Sri Lanka (Oslo Declaration)
Date: 25 Nov 2002
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Interstate/intrastate conflict(s)
Sri Lankan Civil War (1983 - 2009)
The roots of the Sri Lanka conflict lay in British colonial policy which controlled the island from 1802 until 1948. During the early 1800s, the British brought Tamils from mainland India to work on the various plantations for tea, coffee and rubber, changing Sri Lanka's the demographic make-up. Upon independence, Sinhalese nationalism dominated the political sphere and introduced discriminatory policies against the Tamil minority straining relations and sparking protests. Armed Tamil resistance first came in the form of assassinations of moderate Tamils and opposition politicians in the mid-1970s. However, it was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) attack on checkpoint Four Four Bravo, which marked the turning point, sparking pogroms against Tamils in Sinhalese majority areas. This incident, known as Black July, is widely considered to the beginning of the civil war.

The first round of peace talks were backed by India, which had deployed the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in 1987, and led to the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The Accord was successful in persuading the majority of insurgency groups to lay down arms. However, the strongest Tamil insurgency group, the LTTE, was not party to the talks and refused to disarm, sparking direct conflict between the IPKF and the LTTE until IPKF withdrawal 1990. Following the withdrawal, the LTTE consolidated their power in the North and East sparking another intense and bloody war with the central government that lasted until 2002 when another peace process was launched under the auspices of Norwegian negotiators. The second round of peace talks, however, only continued until April 2003 and in March 2004, a large faction of LTTE cadres split from the main organization damaging LTTE unity. The LTTE were defeated militarily by a large-scale government assault in 2009, however, the conditions for peace remain uncertain.
Stage: Pre-negotiation/process
Conflict nature: Government/territory
Peace process: Sri Lanka LTTE 2002 onward process
Parties: Not signed but expressed to be: 'We, government representatives from the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe, meeting in Oslo on 25 November 2002'. . .
Third parties: -
Description: Multilateral donor statement expressing support for the ongoing peace process and the arrangement of a donor conference to help reconstruction (see later Tokyo Declaration).

Agreement document: LK_021125_Oslo Declaration.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Main category: Page 2, ... Building a national consensus for the difficult steps ahead in the peace process will require particular efforts to meet the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable, such as the poor, the unemployed, especially in the rural areas, and women and children.

Page 3, ... The Sub- Committee has issued an urgent appeal to the international community for immediate assistance to begin to resettle and rehabilitate internally displaced persons, address the needs of women and children and help the population to resume their economic activities.

Women, girls and gender

Participation: No specific mention.
Equality: No specific mention.
Particular groups of women: Particular groups of women→Refugee/displaced women
Page 3
...
The Sub- Committee has issued an urgent appeal to the international community for immediate assistance to begin to resettle and rehabilitate internally displaced persons, address the needs of women and children and help the population to resume their economic activities.
International law: No specific mention.
New institutions: No specific mention.
Violence against women: Violence against women→Protection (general)
Page 99 of 128 Page 2, ... Building a national consensus for the difficult steps ahead in the peace process will require particular efforts to meet the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable, such as the poor, the unemployed, especially in the rural areas, and women and children.
Transitional justice: No specific mention.
Institutional reform: No specific mention.
Development: No specific mention.
Implementation: No specific mention.
Other: No specific mention.

Declaration in support of the peace process in Sri Lanka

Press release | Published:

2002-11-25

Declaration in Support of the Peace Process in Sri Lanka.

We, government representatives from the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe, meeting in Oslo on 25 November 2002, express strong support for the historic peace process now underway in Sri Lanka.

At this critical phase of the peace process, we commit ourselves to providing immediate financial assistance.

A donor conference, proposed to be held in Tokyo in 2003, will have a greater focus on longer-term financial assistance and continue our efforts at donor co-ordination.

Published under:

Bondevik's 2nd Government

Publisher Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HISTORICAL ARCHIVE