Judge CG Weeramantry, former vice president of the International Court of Justice and the president of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, told the Hague Appeal for Peace in New York on 14th February 2003 that "the Security Council has never authorised force based on a potential, non-imminent threat of violence. All past authorisations have been in response to actual invasions, large scale violence of humanitarian emergency". Judge Weeramantry also maintained that without moral, legal and factual evidence for a war against Iraq, the Anglo-American alliance had painted itself into a corner by dragging the troops to the borders of Iraq.
His comments found resonance in the country of his birth. Throughout March, there were pickets and protest rallies in Colombo. Workers, human rights groups, people from all communities and of diverse political hue marched under banners such as "Do not spill blood for oil". Chanting slogans – join the world mass opposition to the war; condemn the war threat against Iraq, Bush wants a puppet ruler in Iraq; no bombs to Iraq but food for children – the protests reflected the perception of the war on Iraq by the masses in Sri Lanka. Demonstrators were often addressed by speakers who usually simply called for more protests to pressure the government and the president to oppose the war.
A curious blend of domestic war fatigue, fears of a fledgling peace process going astray and anti-America feeling promoted by chauvinistic forces who wished to use the war on Iraq for partisan political gains animated much of the anti-war protests in Sri Lanka. In particular, it was the current peace process that played on minds – after over two decades of a devastating war, which has led to the economic and social ruination of the country, people in Sri Lanka look upon war as an evil that they are loath to revisit or see inflicted upon another country. However, while the war was distant and abstract, its ramifications were concrete and real.
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment set up a special command centre at its head office soon after war broke out to enable people to know about family members employed in West Asia. In addition, a special fund of SLR 500 million was set up to help workers in case of need. On 20 April 2003, the bureau confirmed that no Sri Lankan worker employed in West Asia had been affected by the Iraq war.