Confronting the Violence Committed by Armed Opposition Groups

Abstract

Human rights groups have limited their role to monitoring and protesting human rights violations committed by state actors.! With the emergence of armed opposition groups-such as the Sendero Luminoso in Peru2 and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka 3 -that murder, torture, and destroy civil society in their respective regions, human rights entities must question whether they should broaden their mandate to include abuses committed by such groups. Focusing on the context of India, this article: (1) develops arguments encouraging human rights groups to critique abuses perpetrated by armed opposition groups; (2) suggests potential problems that may be encountered in making such criticisms; and (3) raises some reasons for caution by human rights organizations that condemn the actions of armed opposition groups.