Rights groups calls for renewal of OHCHR mandate for 2 years

by admin
Sep 2, 2024

A group of human rights organisations have called on UN member states and observers states to renew the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the upcoming UNHRC session to provide Tamil victim survivors with truth, justice and reparations. 

In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, Sri Lanka Campaign, Forum-Asia and Franciscan International said that renewing the mandate is "vital" in enabling the Sri Lanka Accountability Project to complete its work. 

Resolution 46/1, which was adoped in March 2021, recognised the importance of preserving and analysing evidence in relation to human rights abuses committed in Sri Lanka. The resolution called for the capacity of the OHCHR to be strengthened so that it could "collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that may be used in future war crimes trials. As a result, the Sri Lanka Accountability Project was established. 

If the mandate is not renewed, the groups said it "would disincentivise adherence to international human rights law, and betray the many victims of grave human rights violations and abuses and their families who, in the absence of domestic accountability, look to the United Nations for justice, truth and reparation."

The UNHRC's 57th session will begin on September 9 and will discuss the OHCHR's recent report which details the sexual abuse and intimidation of Tamil activists by Sri Lanka’s security forces; continued crackdowns on memorial activities across the North-East; and failure to advance accountability for human rights abuses committed.

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Amaran - Problematic propaganda

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The genre of war epic makes its grand re-entry to Tamil cinema with director Rajkumar Periasamy’s sophomore feature film, ‘Amaran.’ As is often the case with this genre, one cannot help but feel the events of the ‘true story’ onscreen have been heavily modified for easy consumption.

 

 

 

The patriotic military films of Tamil cinema had taken a back seat for a while. The subject matter is now seldom a prominent theme of a film, instead lurking in the shadows peeking through such as via the heroes in the works of Nelson Dilipkumar. The genre of war epic makes its grand re-entry to Tamil cinema with director Rajkumar Periasamy’s sophomore feature film, ‘Amaran.’ As is often the case with this genre, one cannot help but feel the events of the ‘true story’ onscreen have been heavily modified for easy consumption.

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Official trailer for film below.

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