The civil conflict in Sri Lanka is once again a top headline in the international media. Several newspapers and media outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and BBC report that the twenty-four hour ultimatum given to the separatist rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers by the government of Sri Lanka earlier this week has expired and intense fighting has spread to the northern part of the island. The situation has been exacerbated by the tens of thousands civilians that are trying to flee the area and also the conditions of the cramped makeshift camps set up by the government for these civilians.

Several international aid and advocacy organizations including the United Nations and International Crisis Group have called for a halt of the Sri Lankan government’s offensive and also access to these areas. However the government has carefully monitored aid and international media access to the civilian camps and rebel areas.

In a recent opinion piece, “The silent horror of the war in Sri Lanka, ” author and activist Arundhati Roy writes in The Times of India that the international media have not done enough to call attention to the Sri Lankan government-sponsored camps. Roy writes, “From the little information that is filtering through it looks as though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of the ‘war on terror’ as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in the country, and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people.”

WCI’s programs in Sri Lanka specifically focus on the role of the media in promoting women’s leadership in conflict transformation. WCI sponsored trainings on media skills for women leaders, implemented a nation-wide awareness advocacy campaign about internally displaced people in the north and eastern regions of the country and also broadcast a television and radio talk show series in English, Sinhala and Tamil addressing such issues as women’s political participation, conflict resolution, racism and women’s role in the family.

However it is evident that following this recent wave of violence, more media attention of the civil conflict in Sri Lanka is needed. Following the tragic and sudden death of Sri Lankan Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatungaa earlier this year, his moving editorial about Sri Lankan politics and the media was posthumously published. An except follows here:

I hope my assassination will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration for those who survive to step up their efforts…

People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted.