Tamil diaspora organisations express solidarity with families of the disappeared

by Sharmini
Sep 1, 2020

Tamil mother at a rally in Vavuniya marking 1289 days of roadside protest

Global Tamil diaspora groups expressed solidarity with the families of the disappeared in a press release, marking the International Day  of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. 

In their press release, the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), British Tamils Forum (BTF), Irish Tamils Forum (ITF), Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice (SGPJ) and the US Tamil Action Group (USTAG), highlighted that harassment and intimidation by Sri Lanka's security forces has been "sharply increasingly against the victim community."

"At a protest gathering Batticaloa today, the Sri Lanka police snatched a photo from a lady confiscating the only photograph in the family's possession of her disappeared husband," the press release added.

The groups have called on the international community to "ensure justice for the victims by setting up an International Accountability Mechanism for Sri Lanka or referring Sri Lanaka to an existing international court."

"We call on our governments to apply the Global Magnitsky Act and the Global Human Rights Sanctions to all Sri Lankan perpertrators of international crimes and to carefully vet any members of Sri Lanka's military with whom they have contact."

Read the full statement here. 

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