Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka have been at war since 1983. The war is dominantly ethnic in its construction but not genocidal in a strict sense of the definition of the term, in that the conflict or war is not directed toward the elimination of a population on ethnic or racial grounds. However, the passions of the war are fueled in an ideology of nationalism, given greater impetus through religious values that are one major basis for ethnic distinction. This ethnic distinction took on a destruction of genocidal quality not dissimilar from other conflicts of a genocidal character, in Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda, and increasingly in other parts of Africa.

The war in Sri Lanka has affected the lives of all communities in Sri Lanka. These include the major parties to the conflict, the dominant Sinhala-speaking largely Buddhist population (some two-thirds of the island's population) located mainly in the fertile central, western, and...