About Us

Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) is a not-for-profit research think-tank that works on public policy issues in Sri Lanka with a special focus on issues affecting the Tamil polity in the island. ACPR commenced operations in September 2016. ACPR is based in Jaffna and works throughout the North-East. ACPR is an independent non-partisan organisation and does not associate itself with any other organisation or political party. The vision of ACPR is the creation of a politically, socially and economically just pluri-national Sri Lanka. The mission of ACPR is to be an active contributor of informed and research-based activism within the Tamil polity, to report on public policy issues that are of special relevance to the North-East of Sri Lanka, to create internal capacity for autonomy and self-government in the North-East and to contribute critically towards justice, accountability and sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.

Latest

Statement: Impunity persists for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

Jaffna, Sri Lanka – On this International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance, we stand in solidarity with the Families of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka, most of whom were disappeared by the Sri Lankan state and whose disappearances have yet to be accounted for. Fourteen years since the end of the armed conflict, the…

Joint Statement: On the Inadequacy of a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Mechanism’ to Achieve Post-War Transitional Justice

19 July 2023 The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has proposed a new National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) to promote truth and reconciliation internally. This is in no way aligned with the demands of the victim-survivor community, nor does it address the underlying causes that led to the armed conflict. In light of past…

Statement: Fourteen years on, Remembering Mullivaikkaal

18 May 2023 Jaffna, Sri Lanka – On this day marking fourteen years since the end of the war in Mullivaikkaal, we commemorate all those lives lost during the last phase of the war, in particular the tens of thousands of Tamils that were killed by the inhumane atrocities committed during the Sri Lankan state’s…

Joint Tamil Civil Society Statement: Sri Lanka’s Political and Economic Crisis

July 14, 2022 Jaffna – On July 13, 2022, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka leaving the island in political chaos. Many among the island’s Sinhala majority and the international community have heralded this moment, a culmination of months of protest, as a potentially revolutionary moment. And indeed, the departure of a president who has overseen…

Situation Briefing No.6: Deteriorating Security Situation for Families of the Disappeared in the North-East of Sri Lanka

May 16, 2022 The full briefing in English is available for download here. The world’s attention is now on Sri Lanka as it confronts its worst economic crisis ever. As the island sees record numbers of Sinhalese protesting in recent weeks, the excessive force used by police and security forces has rightly sparked international outrage….

Situation Briefing No.5: Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Sri Lanka

March 1, 2021 The full PDF of this briefing can be downloaded here. Since the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019, Sri Lanka has seen an alarming regression in respect of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. As noted by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in her report on…

Situation Briefing No.4: Sri Lanka’s Repression of the Tamil Polity’s Right to Remember

January 12, 2021 The full briefing can be downloaded in English here. On Friday January 8, Jaffna university authorities on direction of the government destroyed a memorial commemorating Tamil civilians killed in the final phase of the war in Mullivaikkal on the Jaffna university campus. Their actions were a brazen attempt by the government to…

Eleven years on, still no justice

ACPR Statement May 18, 2020 Today we commemorate all those lives that we lost during the war, especially the tens of thousands of Tamil lives that were taken by horrific atrocities perpetrated during the final phase of the war and as a result of the numerous massacres and atrocities committed during the Sri Lankan state’s…