by Association Thendral, France, February 7, 2022
Assoc Thendral written statement UNHRC Feb 2022
A/HRC/49/NGO/195
Genocidal Intent
The intent of the Sri Lankan government to destroy, in whole or in part, the Eelam Tamils in
Sri Lanka, is clear from several categories of evidence:
1) Documentary evidence including court case documents;
2) Legal inference based upon the systematic perpetration of culpable acts
directed against the Tamils;
3) Testimony of witnesses who survived genocidal attacks;
4) Government’s unwillingness to investigate grave violations against the Tamils,
including mass graves;
5) Introduction of laws to facilitate genocide.
Genocidal Actions In Sri Lanka physical violence has been perpetrated against the Tamils
since 1956. The Tamil community has been systematically targeted. The violence directed
against the Tamil community with increasing ferocity has included the categories listed in
the Genocide Convention. Acts of violence by State security forces have included the
following:
a) Massacres and extra-judicial executions
b) Disappearances
c) Torture
d) Rape
e) Illegal detention
International legal precedent (from the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia) holds that genocidal intent can be inferred from the context of the
perpetration of culpable acts when they are systematically directed against a group.
The Rwandan tribunal has said that it is possible to deduce the genocidal intent inherent in a
particular act charged from the general context of the perpetration of other culpable acts
systematically directed against that same group, whether these acts were committed by the
same offender or by others.
Other factors, such as the scale of atrocities committed, their general nature, in a region or a
country, or furthermore, the fact of deliberately and systematically targeting victims on
account of their membership of a particular group, while excluding the members of other
groups, can enable the inference of the genocidal intent of a particular act.
The Yugoslavia tribunal has said that intent may be inferred from a number of facts such as
the general political doctrine which gave rise to the genocidal acts or the repetition of
destructive and discriminatory acts. The intent may also be inferred from the perpetration of
acts which violate the very foundation of the group. The tribunal found that the intent derives
from the combined effect of speeches or projects laying the groundwork for and justifying
the acts, from the massive scale of their destructive effect and from their specific nature,
which aims at undermining what is considered to be the foundation of the group.
Genocidal Actions
• Rendering a million Tamils stateless in 1948 and their disenfranchisement in 1949 by
legislative measures
• Periodic violence from 1956 and island-wide genocidal massacres targeting the Tamil
community
• Security force massacres of the Tamil community in north-east Sri Lanka
• Massacre of Tamils in government custody, including prisons and other detention
centres
• The introduction of the draconian legislation and their use exclusively against Tamils
• The use of paramilitary forces and militias by security forces for violations against
Tamils
• Mass round-up of Tamils by security forces
• Detention without charge or trial for long periods
• Disappearance of thousands of Tamils following arrest by the security forces
• Abduction and disappearance of Tamils
• Rape of Tamil women by security forces
• Destruction of Tamil villages, homes, hospitals and crops
• Destruction of places of worship and cultural centres
• Prevention of supply of food, medicines and other essential needs to the Tamil
population
The genocidal actions of the Sri Lankan State have resulted in the deaths of more than 80,000
Tamils, forced nearly a million Tamils to flee the country and internally displaced 800,000
Tamils