On 12 August the Association for Relatives of Enforced Disappearances (ARED) released a statement calling for the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to acknowledge their demands ahead of the UNHRC session scheduled for September.
The statement which was addressed to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, emphasized that accountability for enforced disappearances would not be secured with the Sri Lankan government.
Instead ARED states that true justice will only be achieved through the international community and its mechanisms.
“Since we came to the conclusion that fair justice will not be meted out from the Sri Lankan government, we decided to focus our struggle towards the international world seeking justice from them.”
Relatives of those who were forcefully disappeared have been engaged in a struggle for their loved ones for over 2000 days.
In the statement the ARED reiterates six key demands.
- We want to see the judgement of Justice before the end of our lives. Therefore, all those responsible for genocide against us, including Mahinda and Gotabaya should be brought to Justice at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- The International Community should come forward to arrest Gotabaya Rajapaksa through the international judicial mechanism regardless of which country he is hiding and bring him before the International Criminal Court for the genocide committed by him against the Tamil People.
- Even today, the Sinhala Army, which is responsible for the disappearance of our children, is occupying our Lands. It is the selfsame Army that is constantly threatening us and continues to keep us in a state of panic. This army must be removed from our lands immediately.
- Following the war of aggression against us, the Sinhala Buddhist government is rapidly carrying out Sinhala Buddhistisation by occupying our lands and Temples. This activity should be stopped immediately, and the land should be handed over to their rightful owners.
- Our relatives languishing as Tamil political prisoners in jail should be released immediately without any conditions.
- The Tamil people entitled to self-determination should have the opportunity to decide their political faith. A permanent political solution must be provided through the internationally monitored referendum among people and their descendants who lived int the Northern and Eastern provinces on and before February 4th, 1948.
Read full statement here
