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Marking 15 years since the Mullivaikkal genocide, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron, has issued a statement touting the UK's efforts to improve human rights and support meaningful progress that will allow those on the island to "remember their loved ones freely".
The statement comes as Tamils conducting memorials faced continued crackdowns by the Sri Lankan police. In Kilinochchi, four Tamils were arrested for distributing Kanji. His statement further read:
“As we mark the 15th anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, my thoughts are with all those killed and disappeared, and with their loved ones who continue to search for answers [...] I heard first-hand about the devastating consequences of the war when I visited Northern Sri Lanka in 2013. There I made a commitment that the UK would support truth, justice, and accountability for all."
Cameron has written on his historic visit to Jaffna in 2013 in his memoirs. “The day I spent there will live long in my memory,” wrote Cameron.
“I saw what was left of Jaffna Library, whose priceless manuscripts had been destroyed by fire as government forces tried to eradicate Tamil history.”
“I visited the Tamil newspaper’s offices and met the editor, who has lived in the building for the past three years because he feared for his life. There was a charred printing press that had been shot and burned by regime hoodlums, and the walls were covered with bullet holes where journalists had been murdered.”
“I went to a refugee camp, whose existence the regime denied. I’ll never forget the crowds of women, holding up photos of young men, desperate to tell us their stories. We all had letters thrust towards us about these sons, husbands, fathers and brothers who had surrendered to the military and not been seen since. What had happened to them? Could we help find them?”
Read his full statement here.
