During United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s visit to the Eastern Province on Tuesday, Tamil victims, families of the disappeared, civil society representatives, and human rights activists staged a protest and submitted a statement outlining urgent demands and concerns.
The protest, held in Trincomalee, was spearheaded by Tamils from the Eastern Province who continue to face systemic discrimination, militarisation, and denial of justice more than 16 years after the end of the armed conflict.
A statement was formally handed over to Türk, identifying the signatories as Tamils from the East who have lived through state violence, including survivors of international crimes, relatives of the disappeared, victims of sexual violence, human rights defenders, and those fighting to reclaim their ancestral lands and fishing grounds.
The statement welcomed the High Commissioner and condemned the Sri Lankan state’s continued obfuscation and delay in ensuring justice and accountability for the genocide committed against the Tamil people.
Key concerns raised include the loss of Tamil self-determination, the escalation of anti-Tamil violence culminating in the 2009 Mullivaikkal genocide, and an ongoing campaign of what was described as “constructive genocide.” The statement cited surveillance and intimidation of activists, systematic land grabs, and settler colonisation, particularly referencing the recent encroachment of Tamil grazing lands in Mayilaththamadu, Batticaloa.
Criticism was also levelled at the Sri Lankan government’s obstruction of international accountability mechanisms, particularly the denial of visas to members of the UN’s Sri Lanka Accountability Project (OSLAP), which was described as “clear evidence” of the state’s unwillingness to cooperate.
The Tamil groups presented a list of eleven demands to Türk and the UNHRC, including:
• The establishment of an international criminal justice mechanism to prosecute international crimes, including genocide;
• A referral of Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC);
• The involvement of international forensic experts to investigate mass graves in sites such as Chemmani and Mannar;
• An end to land grabs and state-sponsored Sinhalisation in the Tamil homeland;
• Justice and answers for the families of the disappeared;
• Repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Online Safety Act;
• A hybrid mechanism with both international and domestic components to protect activists;
• Urgent steps towards a durable political solution to the island’s protracted ethnic conflict.
The letter concluded with a call for the international community to recognise the deep discrepancy between official government narratives and the lived realities of Tamils on the ground.
Read the full text of the letter here. See more photographs below.
