Acquisitions Sri Lanka 2008-2010

- Records of the Central Zone Commission (CZC) and the All Island Commission (AIC) of Inquiry into Disappearances of Persons in Sri Lanka
The Institute recently acquired a complete set of the records of the Central Zone Commission (CZC) and the All Island Commission (AIC) of Inquiry into Disappearances of Persons in Sri Lanka. In 1995 Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Bandaranayake appointed three Commissions of Inquiry known as the Zonal Commissions. These Commissions had a mandate to inquire into incidents of disappearances in and after 1988. In 1998 another commission was appointed with island-wide jurisdiction, the All Island Commission (AIC). The AIC however was only authorized to inquire into complaints which were left un-inquired by the Zonal Commissions. The records brought together by these Commissions are a unique and valuable repository of information on Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka during and after the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising from 1987-1989.
We hope to have the collection available and accessible late next year. Access to parts of the collection is restricted.

- Records on the Socio-political History of Muslims and Tamils of Sri Lanka - from the 80s onwards
A growing collection of small and often difficult to get magazines (both local and from the diaspora), booklets, brochures, poetry and other commemorative items. At this moment the collection contains 163 titles. As the collection is not yet available through the IISH catalogue a preliminary list is available here (14 p., 121 Kb.)

- Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP)
In 2008 the IISH received the first batch of public documents from the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) consisting of around 300 leaflets and flyers and about 100 posters from roughly the last two decades.
In 2009 we received additional documents on the congresses of the NSSP (1986-2008), internal bulletins (1996-2008), membership forms (1986-1991), documents on the Oswin Workers’ School in Colombo (1998-2003) and the Ceylon Students Federation (2003).
Access to parts of the Collection is restricted.

Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) or New Social Equality Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka; formed in 1977 as a tendency after the expulsion of some members by other groups; initially associated with the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) but left the CWI in 1988; since 1991 the NSSP led by Vickramabahu Karunarathne has been the Sri Lankan section of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.