Issue and Opponent: Sri Lanka’s civil war, which was fought between the majority Sinhala-dominated government and a minority separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, engulfed the island of Iranaitheevu in 1992, forcing all 650 of its residents to flee to the mainland. They spent the next 17 years in a state of constant displacement, relocating to different areas in northern Sri Lanka to avoid the fighting. The war ended in 2009 after the government implemented a scorched earth policy. It bombed hospitals, aid distributions, and no-fire zones in LTTE territory to secure a military victory. The LTTE, meanwhile, refused to allow civilians to flee, in a futile effort to use them as human shields. The Iranaitheevu community was among the 350,000 civilians caught in the middle. After the war ended the government detained the Iranaitheevu community and the rest of the surviving civilian population in overcrowded displacement camps, wherewith human rights violations occurred, including sexual violence and torture. When the government released the Iranaitheevu community members from the camps six months later, they expected to finally return home. Instead, they found the navy was still occupying their island and had no plans to leave. Dilemma Action: In April 2018, a flotilla of 44 motorboats filled with 300 Sri Lankan Tamils and a small group of activists, journalists, and clergy led by a group of women known as the Iranaitheevu Women’s Development Society (WDS), ignored the navy’s explicit orders and set sail for their former homes on the navy-occupied island of Iranaitheevu. To ensure the navy couldn’t justify an attack on the pretense of self-defense, they tied white flags to each motorboat, signaling they were unarmed. Unprepared to respond, the navy officers retreated, saying they would have to consult senior navy officials. Outcome: The navy never made any subsequent attempts to expel the Iranaitheevu people from the island. The government granted the community official permission to remain, giving up its quarter-century campaign to keep them from their land. Three months later, 100 community members permanently moved back to the island.