TNPF disappointed that draft UN resolution fails to meet 'basic' demands of Tamil victims

by Gaya
Mar 2, 2021

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) submitted a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 24, mirroring a letter from the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF), expressing their disappointment with the UN Zero Draft of the Resolution on Sri Lanka for its failure to meet even "basic" demands held by Tamil Victims. 

The draft resolution was released by the Core Group on Sri Lanka and called on the UN "to consolidate, analyse, and preserve" evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials, has since received criticism from numerous Tamil organizations for falling short of ensuring accountability and justice for mass atrocities. 

The TNPF acknowledges the resolution’s failure to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court to inquire into all crimes committed by the government or the appointment of a Special Rapporteur, among numerous other accountability mechanisms, which have been repeatedly insisted on in previous proposals. 

In addition, the TNPF raises concerns with the continued expropriation of Tamil lands in the North-East “under guise of security, development, archaeological research and conservation” and the “occupational presence of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in the Tamil speaking North-East.” 

The letter from the party further refuses to accept the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan consitution, which mandates a measure of power devolution to the provincial councils, as an adequate basis for progress and states that the “Tamil People as a Nation, must be given an opportunity to exercise its right to self-determination and freely determine its political status”. 

See the full letter below: 

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