The leader of the Tamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii (TMTK) C V Wigneswaran has called on the United Nations to ensure Sri Lanka is referred to an international criminal tribunal, as he rejected the notion of granting the government “further time” at the UN Human Rights Council with the extension of another resolution on accountability for mass atrocities.
Responding to a letter drafted by Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran to be sent jointly by Tamil political parties to the United Nations, Wigneswaran said that it only calls on the international community “to extend the favours that have already been granted to a genocidal government”.
“Worse, it does so in the name of the Tamil victims,” said the former supreme court justice in an open response. “How could we accept your document and its recommendations?”
“I am not saying that we should oppose the UNHRC resolution or should not engage with the UNHRC,” Wigneswaran added. “Instead, we must take action to further strengthen and make sense of the UNHRC resolution.”
“In today’s context, it is pertinent to ask the UNHRC to request the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court, or to a specially created international criminal tribunal set up by the UN."
“In parallel, my request is that we should also try to take Sri Lanka to the ICJ, which is a feasible option outside the UNHRC mechanism. Beyond whether these are possible or not, it is our duty as representatives of the Tamil people to strive for these. While we call on UNHRC to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC, we must also call on UNHRC to appoint a UN Special Rapporteur to investigate and monitor human rights abuses and land grabs in Sri Lanka as well as to establish an Independent Investigative Mechanism to facilitate the accountability and war crimes process.”
See the full text of his letter here.
