Methodology

Evidence labels

Documented
Supported by reliable primary documentation or strong institutional evidence.

Corroborated
Independently supported by multiple credible sources.

Disputed
Credible sources materially disagree about the claim or important details.

Needs verification
Included for research tracking, but current evidence is insufficient to state it as established fact.

Sources and citations

Prefer primary records, court or official documents, contemporaneous reporting, reputable international organisations, established human-rights reporting, academic research and high-quality secondary histories. Several websites repeating the same original report count as one source, not several.

Claims are cited inline with numbered references that link to the full source list. Wherever possible each source links to the original and to an archived copy, so that it can still be checked if the original disappears.

Casualty figures

Figures are recorded exactly as each source gives them, one row per source. When sources disagree, all figures are shown. Totals on the statistics page are given as a range from the sum of the lowest cited figures to the sum of the highest. The archive does not average figures or produce its own estimates.

Attribution

Each incident states how responsibility for it is established, using one of these categories:

• Responsibility claimed by the LTTE
• Established by a court
• Found by an independent investigation
• Attributed by government authorities
• Widely attributed in reporting
• Attribution disputed

The wording of a record should match its attribution: “the LTTE claimed responsibility” and “police attributed the attack to the LTTE” are different claims.

Images and distressing material

Images are published only with a known source and credit. Distressing images are hidden behind a warning and shown only when the reader chooses to view them. Records describing severe violence carry a content warning.

Translations

Records may be translated into Sinhala and Tamil. Dates, places, figures and sources are maintained once, in the English record, so that translations cannot drift from the facts.

Corrections

Every changed record carries an update date. Material corrections are dated on the record and listed in the public corrections log.