An online petition created by Tamil youth, calling for the United Nations and its Member States to ensure justice for Tamils in Eelam, has gained over 28,000 signatures in under one week.
The petition, under the larger #JusticeforEelam campaign, aims “to create international consensus around the Sri Lankan genocide of Tamils and attain justice through getting the UN to conduct an international, impartial and independent investigation and to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
The petition addressed to the UN, and its member states has three requests;
"Firmly and unequivocally pass a time-bound resolution at the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council mandating an international, impartial and independent investigation into the conduct of the Sri Lankan state and its occupying military during the final phase of the war, and into the ongoing acts of genocide and human rights violations."
"Pass a resolution at the UN Security Council and/or General Assembly that is similar to the above resolution but additionally refers Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC)."
"Act swiftly to severely punish those found responsible for acts of genocide or other abuses, and to instate a protection mechanism that will prevent a recurrence of genocide."
The petition also goes on to highlight that in the last 12 years, “Sri Lankan security forces have enjoyed total impunity and the Sri Lankan state has evaded accountability.”
Therefore, “any internal investigation of Sri Lanka’s conduct would be inherently compromised, as it would be tantamount to a crime’s perpetrator adjudicating on their own innocence,” stated the petition.
The petition was initiated by Alaigal, the next generation of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), with the intention of uniting Tamil youth internationally, to form one voice pushing for accountability.
One of the campaign organizers, Abiramy Logeswaran, told Tamil Guardian, “it is time we put our differences aside and come together. I am proud to be part of the next-generation of the diaspora that has united beyond organizational or geographical divides to be one voice of the diaspora. This campaign is just the start of the journey that the new young force has embarked on, to seek justice for Eelam.”
For more information about the initiative, visit www.justiceforeelam.org and sign the petition here.
Discussions around a joint call to the global body have taken place over the last several weeks, with a representative from the families of the dissapeared stating, "we have been asking for the ICC since 2018. We must unite and work together as one voice in order for it to be valuable.”
Further, several other petitions and initiatives have been circulating pushing for justice and accountability for Sri Lanka at the UNHRC’s 46th Session in March. Recently, in an unprecedented show of unity, one joint statement signed by several major Tamil political leaders stated, “it is now time for Member States to acknowledge that there is no scope for a domestic process that can genuinely deal with accountability in Sri Lanka.”
