to Bolster Sri Lankan Int’l Crimes Investigation
RESPONSE TO SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT’S REQUEST TO THE UN TO APPROVE HIS “PLAYBOOK FOR IMPUNITY”
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, USA, September 27, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ —
The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) released today its response (Link below) to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s September 25th speech before the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly, during which the President backtracked on Sri Lanka’s commitment to secure justice for the victims of international crimes that occurred at the hands of the Sri Lankan state during the county’s criminal conflict, which ended in 2009.
TGTE’s written response to the President’s speech includes a “Report Card for the Sri Lankan Government,” detailing the island nation’s many failures to date to uphold its promises to deliver justice, as stipulated by UN Resolution 30/1. TGTE also calls for the creation of an International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to investigate, document and prosecute humanitarian law breeches and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan state, as documented by at least three UN investigative reports.
“Since Sri Lanka is an ethnocratic state, justice cannot be meted out to Tamils within Sri Lanka. It can be done only in the International Criminal Court. Nearly 2 million people have subscribed to this view by participating in the TGTE’s ‘Refer Sri Lanka to the ICC’ campaign,” TGTE Prime Minister Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran said. “I also have to point out that this month, the Northern Provincial Council passed a unanimous resolution calling for referral of Sri Lanka to the ICC. The proposed independent mechanism is in the meantime to collect and preserve the evidence since evidence are being destroyed and witnesses are under threat inside the island of Sri Lanka,” added Prime Minister Rudrakumaran.
TGTE’s written response to President Sirisena’s Sept. 25th speech also makes clear that the Sri Lankan state continues to violate Tamils’ human rights with its use of torture and failure to resettle internally displaced Tamils, among several other failures of grave concern, having never been held to account. TGTE’s written response to the President also highlights steps that the international community can and should take to bring Tamil victims closer to justice and to protect the authority, credibility and values of the UN.
“If the General Assembly acquiesces to Sirisena’s request [to abandon international accountability], it will have helped him write the last chapter in Sri Lanka’s ‘Playbook for Impunity’,” Prime Minister Rudrakumaran says in TGTE’s written response. “A playbook that challenges the very relevance and effectiveness of the entire human rights system.”
Read TGTE’s full response (Link Below) to President Sirisena’s speech to learn more about the Tamil people’s plight, TGTE’s position on Sri Lankan accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the role of the international community in delivering justice.
LINK TO FULL RESPONSE: https://fr.calameo.com/read/0003415020db8aabfe707
Contact:
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam
TGTE
+1-614-202-3377