‘Even Fish Have an Ethnicity’: Livelihoods and Identities of Men and Women in War-affected Coastal Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

The violent conflict between the LTTE and the GoSL then came to an end with the military victory of the GoSL in 2009 and the death of the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran in Mullaithivu district in the Northern Province. [...] Undoubtedly, with the defeat of the former regime, the democratic space within the country has expanded, and the return of some of the land that was declared part of High Security Zones and occupied by the GoSL military in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to the original owners is a step in the right direction, although much more needs to be done to address the grievances and root causes of the. [...] The war contributed to the ‘violent mixing and un-mixing’ of people in Trincomalee, and the impacts of the war in relation to displacement and the resultant changes in demographics were ethnicised. [...] Trincomalee was affected by a variety of actions during the war, including interruptions to fisheries activities, the ‘pass system’ enforced by the Navy for those going to sea, the destruction of fishing craft and equipment, the extortionate and rent-seeking behaviours of both parties in the war, threats of violence and the taking of lives. [...] In Trincomalee, a wide variety of mechanised boats are in operation, in terms of the type and power of the engine and the length of the boat, and the variety in non-mechanised boats is even wider.