20 years of conversation: Two decades of Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lectures

The Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture was initiated to celebrate the life and legacy of one of Sri Lanka’s most brilliant citizens, the lawyer, scholar and statesman Neelan Tiruchelvam who was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1999. 

Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam

Neelan is remembered today for his many roles, notably as a distinguished lawyer and constitutional scholar who was a senior partner at Tiruchelvam Associates, an institution builder who was a founder and director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and the Law and Trust Society and a visionary parliamentarian. 

After his death, his wife Sithie established the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust in his memory. To date, the Trust is the only Sri Lankan grant-making organisation supporting work done by community organisations on issues of human rights, good governance and peace building.

Over the years, the Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lectures have reflected Neelan’s diverse interests and continued his commitment to create and maintain a space for discourse, dissent and debate. 

“He was someone who loved literature and the arts,” says Ambika Satkunanathan, the current Chairperson of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust. “He made it a point to educate himself about a diverse range of issues and always wanted to share this knowledge, and create space for thinkers and artists to explore new, different and even difficult ideas and amplify their voices. We chose to honour his memory by honouring the values that were important to him.” 

Speakers have been drawn from around the world and have included the likes of the internationally acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh, the Bangladeshi historian, scholar and academic Gowher Rizvi, President of the International Centre for Transitional Justice Alexander L. Boraine, the British Israeli architect Eyal Weizman, the musician and public intellectual T.M. Krishna and British Parliamentarian Clare Short. 

In 2019, the 20th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture will feature not one but two speakers. Robi Damelin and Bassam Aramin are members of the Israeli-Palestinian organisation The Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), an Israeli-Palestinian organisation of over 600 families who have all lost an immediate family member to the ongoing conflict. 

Robi Damelin’s son, David, was killed by a Palestinian sniper in 2002 while guarding a checkpoint near a settlement during his army reserve service. She speaks to Israeli and Palestinian audiences all over the world as the Israeli Spokesperson for the Parents Circle – Family Forum, to demand that reconciliation be a part of any peace agreement. She was named a 2015 Woman of Impact by Women in the World. 

Bassam Aramin lives in Anata in East Jerusalem. In 1985 at the age of 17, he was incarcerated and spent seven years in Israeli jails between 1985 and 1992. He went on to study history and holds an MA in Holocaust studies from the University of Bradford, England. 

Bassam became a member of the Parents Circle - Families Forum in 2007 after losing his 10 year old daughter Abir, who was killed by an Israeli border policemen in front of her school. Bassam devotes his time and energies to his conviction for a peaceful, non-violent end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.

Robi and Bassam will deliver ‘It Won’t Stop Until We Talk’ at the BMICH on 28 July from 6 p.m. onwards. The lecture is free and open to all. To find out more email: [email protected].