Thread by @kcroninfurman

This is really remarkable reporting by @AP and remarkable advocacy by @itjpsl .

A few thoughts (1/n):
nytimes.com/aponline/2017/…

1. When Piers Pigou says the abuse is "the most egregious and perverted that I've ever seen", you take that seriously. (2/n)

2. While #SriLanka's war is often cited as one in which levels of sexual violence perpetration were low, this does not reflect restraint on the part of state forces. (3/n)

3. Whenever #SriLanka's military had control of Tamil bodies (in reconquered territory, at checkpoints, in detention), sexual violence has been endemic and brutal. (4/n)

4. What's striking here is that these victims are describing abuse that occurred after the war ended, in a country at "peace". (5/n)

5. And damningly for #SriLanka's new government and its international advocates, these crimes were committed AFTER the 2015 election and the country's ostensible democratic transition. (6/n)

6. To me, this suggests that we have to rethink our conception of "transition"
(from war to peace and from authoritarian to democratic rule). (7/n)

7. 52 #Tamil men have testified to unbelievably horrifying sexualized torture by the #SriLankan security forces. Countless more have not spoken out. (8/n)

8. This is not a country that can meaningfully be described as "post-conflict", and it's not a country whose citizens are realizing the benefits of a democratic transition. (9/n)

9. The international community has to do better at reacting to limited improvements - we're too quick to welcome partial progress, too quick to back off of demands for real change. (10/n)

10. We're seeing it in #SriLanka and we're seeing it in #Burma. And unfortunately, it's marginalized minorities like the #Tamils and the #Rohingya who suffer from this failure. (11/11)