No Peace Without Human Rights

I have been asked to talk about Rajan Hoole and Kopalasingham Sritharan of University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR(J)), who received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders this year. I was absolutely thrilled when they got the award, because I had been feeling for years that they hadn't received sufficient recognition for the amazing work they had been doing under extremely difficult circumstances, without any institutional support
or proper funding, and leading a hunted existence due to their refusal to give up human rights work despite death threats from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).