In a statement published on Friday, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) urged all foreign donors to demand the "immediate release of all students taken into custody following Tamil Remembrance Day", as well as the "witholding of further economic assistance and military cooperation until the government allows Remembrance Day to be marked by the families of the dead."
See here for full statement, extracts reproduced below:
"Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) condemns the violent repression of Tamil freedom of expression by the Sri Lankan military and police forces and the accompanying destruction of collective history.
It is critical that these latest instances of State perpetrated violence be seen not in isolation but in the context of the systemic and structural persecution by the Sri Lankan State.
These acts of violently destroying national memory may be viewed as one of the ‘different coordinated actions’ referred to in Raphael Lemkin’s definition of genocide. Lemkin defines genocide as a ‘a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups.,. (where) The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups’
Whilst it is imperative that this latest instance of repression be condemned, it is also necessary that it be analysed within the historical context - the pattern of violence and wider genocidal intent of the Sri Lankan State.
In this context, TAG requests Sri Lanka’s foreign donors to demand the immediate release of all students taken into custody following Tamil Remembrance Day and to with-hold further economic assistance and military cooperation until the government allows Remembrance Day to be marked by the families of the dead."
