Ahead of the 51st UN Human Rights Council session, several Tamil political leaders have written to UN Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to take decisive action to deliver justice for Tamils and stop the continued atrocities.
In their letter, they highlight the continued impunity of Sri Lanka’s military and the continued use of draconian legislation to intimidate and abuse Tamils as well as restrict their freedom of expression. Despite Sri Lanka’s repeated claims to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which gives security officials sweeping powers, they have refused to do so. The letter adds that whilst “Tamil political prisoners are imprisoned for years without charge or trial or convicted after unfair trials, not a single member of the Sri Lankan security forces was arrested or charged for committing atrocity crimes against Tamils”.
They further detail how Sri Lanka has released the few Sri Lanka security officials charged with egregious crimes against Tamil civilians. The letter also details the harassment of Tamil survivor communities face by Sri Lanka’s intelligence agencies who seek to crackdown on their campaigns for justice.
A further concern raised is the continued sinhalisation of the Tamil homeland through “development projects” that seek to “disturb the contiguity of the North East Tamil speaking areas and deny Tamil people access to their lands”.
The statement maintains that the continued atrocities against Tamils amount to genocide and derives from a lack of a permanent political solution to the protracted ethnic conflict.
The letter calls for 6 concrete actions to be taken
- For Sri Lanka to be referred to the ICC
- To reduce the overwhelming Sri Lankan military presence in Tamil areas to pre-1983 levels.
- To stop government-sponsored Sinhala – Buddhist settlements in Tamil areas.
- To call for an internationally conducted and monitored referendum to bring about a permanent political solution
- To call on the Governments around the world to arrest and prosecute Sri Lankan political and military officers in their territory, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. This includes the arrest of exiled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
- To repeal the 6th amendment which limits and criminalises political expression.
The letter was signed by the leader of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootani (TMTK), C.V.Wigneswaran; leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Selvam Adaikalanathan; leader of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Dharmalingam Sithadthan; leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Kandiah Premachandran; and leader of the Tamil National Party (TNP) Nallathamby Srikantha.
Read the full statement here.
