From 1983 to 2009, Sri Lanka was embroiled in a devastating civil war. This war had many players but was primarily a conflict between ethnic factions. The Tamils had long been a minority in Sri Lanka and were oppressed by the Sinhalese-dominated government. This oppression included several pogroms between the end of British imperialism in 1948 and the beginning of the Civil War. These ethnic divisions date back to colonization when British imperialism oppressed both the Tamils and the Sinhalese. In post-colonial Sri Lanka, the power vacuum resulted in the dominant Sinhalese population taking power and recreating colonial violence. For example, the Ceylon Citizenship Act, rendered many Tamils stateless, and the government perpetuated state-sponsored colonization of Tamil areas and banned Tamil-language media. In response, Tamil insurgents organized the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1976 to fight for a separate Tamil state.

Today, Tamils comprise 11.2% of the population in Sri Lanka, while the Sinhalese make up 75%. This ethnic disparity parallels a religious division; Tamils are typically Hindu while the Sinhalese are typically Buddhist, leading to religious and linguistic differences. In 1956, the Sinhalese-controlled government of Sri Lanka passed the Sinhala Only Act, which made Sinhala the sole official language of the country, alienating the Tamils.