Keir Starmer has been appointed as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and has formed a new cabinet that includes many ministers who have issued statements in support of the British Tamil community and demanded the previous government take Sri Lanka before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
We examine key figures in the new cabinet and their previous statements on the British Tamil community, justice for mass atrocities committed by Sri Lanka and the need for Tamil self-determination.
Prime Minister - Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer has previously spoken repeatedly on supporting the British Tamil community, called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court and demanded justice for mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people.
Read more in our feature: Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tamil self-determination and justice for genocide
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs - David Lammy
Britain’s new Foreign Secretary David Lammy has similarly spoken on the need for Sri Lanka to be referred to the ICC and on Tamil self-determination.
Earlier this year, he spoke of how the harvest festival of Thai Pongal, “is also of course a time for us to remember the sacrifices made by the Tamil people for self-determination for peace and for justice in Sri Lanka”.
Read more: British Labour MPs celebrate Pongal
Last year, Lammy urged the British government to act upon the recommendations of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and refer Sri Lankan war criminals to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more: UK Shadow Foreign Secretary calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to ICC
In 2022, Lammy spoke at an event and expressed his solidarity with Tamils.
"I marched for sanctions on apartheid South Africa... I am demanding sanctions be imposed on Sri Lankan war criminals," he said.
"We believe in internationalism, multilateralism and the rule of law. That means you must be held to account for atrocities committed against innocent, decent people".
"As a fellow member of a minority community, I pay tribute to the Tamils."
Read more: British lawmakers and Tamils celebrate Pongal in Westminster
Secretary of State for Defence – John Healy
In 2021, as the UK supplied defence equipment to Sri Lanka, Healey asked Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence, James Heappey, if an Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessment was completed prior to providing the Sri Lankan Navy assistance in April 2019.
Read more: Britain maintains arms deals with Sri Lanka despite human rights concerns
Secretary of State for Health - Wes Streeting
Streeting has repeatedly travelled to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to meetings with officials on Sri Lanka, as well as having attended remembrance events on May 18th and November 27th in the UK.
Streeting spoke at an event to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tamil genocide earlier this year, stating that such events are “a reminder to the government today, and to potentially a different government after the general election, that there is enormous support for your cause here in Parliament and a strong determination on the part of us to make sure that this doesn't slip off the agenda.”
“I know I can say very confidently on behalf of my colleagues Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, David Lammy our Shadow Foreign Secretary that ensuring that you get the accountability that you deserve will form part of the key foreign policy priorities should there be a Labour government,” he added.
“It is so important if international law and human rights to mean anything it is really important that individuals are held to account through the International Criminal Court and that those referrals are made.”
Read more: Labour Party reiterates pledges to Tamils and calls to refer Sri Lanka to ICC
Earlier this year, Streeting said his party would “continue to campaign for this government to impose Magnitsky style sanctions on those who are accused of war crimes”.
Read more: British politicians celebrate Thai Pongal in Parliament and reaffirm calls for justice
When the Tamil Guardian faced censorship by meta on Instagram in 2021, Streeting spoke out and called the ban “unacceptable”.
In 2021, Streeting was one of several MPs who condemned then UK Foreign Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, following her meeting with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, GL Peiris, in which they discussed "boosting economic ties", "deepening trade and investment links", and "strengthening security ties".
It is simply appalling that there is no mention of human rights here. The Government of Sri Lanka flouted commitments made in UK-led UNHRC resolutions and presides over ongoing human rights abuses today. Has our Government abandoned its commitment to this issue? https://t.co/UrHrjDIpli
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) October 27, 2021
At the Labour Party conference in 2021, Streeting said there was a need to seek accountability and justice not just for historic abuses but also for ongoing human rights violations.
"That has to come with consequences because it's not only failing the people of Sri Lanka, it's not only failing the Tamil diaspora around the world who are seeking justice for their families and loved ones [...] It also strikes at the heart of the rules-based international system, which we have to uphold and defend if the UN is truly to mean something."
In May 2021, Streeting said the Sri Lankan government, “continues to turn a blind eye to contemporary ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka”.
In 2021, he called on the UK to "take bilateral action to apply Magnitsky sanctions against the rogues and criminals who perpetrated human rights abuses."
In 2020, Streeting marked Maaveerar Naal and underlined the need to “to recognise the hurt and pain that families still suffer not just as a result of their own experiences of those terrible events, but also the sense of despair they feel at the missing”.
Also, in 2020, Streeting, who was Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, delivered a message passing on his “reassurance that I and other members of parliament across all political parties will be working together, not just to make sure that the prosecution of historic rights abuses remains on the international community’s agenda.”
“We’re with you, we’ll be campaigning with you and for you, and we will not rest until justice is delivered,” he concluded.
That same year, Streeting urged the Foreign Secretary to make progress on an international justice mechanism to achieve accountability in Sri Lanka, following the pardoning of a Sri Lankan soldier convicted for the murder of 8 Tamil civilians.
Earlier that year, Streeting said "as well as holding the government of Sri Lanka to account, our government also needs to make sure that particularly in terms of the treatment of refugees in this country, that people who have made the UK their home can call it a permanent home and are granted the refugee status to which they are entitled and don’t have to fear for their own future."
This afternoon I joined the Tamil community at the Excel exhibition centre for their #MaaveerarNaal commemoration. I’ve fought consistently against historic and ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and for the right to self-determination for all the peoples of Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/vKghTEucNj
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) November 27, 2019
In 2018, Streeting said, “The use of sexual violence was an ugly characteristic of the Sri Lankan civil war under the stewardship of Mahinda Rajapaksa”.
“Now the very same man is back in office, illegitimately, as the Prime Minister of that country,” he continued. “Will the Minister now, and the Foreign Secretary shortly during topical questions, condemn unreservedly the turn of events in Sri Lanka and make sure we never see a return to those dark days of appalling human rights abuses under the Rajapaksas?”
That same year, Streeting said,
“Year after year I have travelled to Geneva to make sure that the international community holds Sri Lanka to account. They made a commitment to involve international judges and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed during the civil war. Now they must deliver. It is to the eternal shame of the international community that we looked the other way while innocent people were subjected to unimaginable acts of violence and terror.”
In 2016, Streeting addressed a Mullivaikkal commemoration event outside 10 Downing Street, stating “there can be no hiding place for crimes that can only be perceived as genocide”.
As he campaigned to become an MP for the first time in 2015, he said, “We must not let the promise of an independent international inquiry become yet another broken promise to the Tamil people, who have waited too long for truth and justice”.
Secretary of State for Energy Security - Ed Miliband
During his tenure as Labour Party leader, Miliband pledged to continue to push for a "full and independent international investigation" into war crimes in Sri Lanka.
In 2014, Miliband said,
“I believe an international investigation would be the first small step towards a permanent political settlement that would be acceptable to both parties and towards the permanent peace which is the precondition for rebuilding a successful Sri Lanka.”
Writing in the Tamil Guardian in 2013, Miliband urged the then-British Premier not to attend the Commonwealth summit hosted by Sri Lanka given the island's dire human rights record.
“There has still been no investigation into allegations of war crimes because the Sri Lankan government has so far refused to carry one out” he wrote adding.
“My party has been clear that in our view we believe that this lamentable human rights situation meant that the British Prime Minister - like the Canadian and Indian Prime Ministers - should not attend the summit”.
Read more:
'Genuine reckoning with the past' needed says Ed Miliband commemorating Mullivaikkal dead
UK govt should push for an international inquiry now - Labour leader Ed Miliband
Britain should secure alternative to Sri Lanka for Commonwealth chair – Ed Miliband
'Important we never forget' Black July - Labour leader Ed Miliband
Secretary of State for the Home Office - Yvette Cooper
The newly appointed Home Secretary slammed then Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, in 2010 for accepting fully funded flights to Sri Lanka from the Sri Lankan government.
“What on earth has he been doing holding 'private' meetings with the Sri Lankan president while refusing to say if he has pressed for the war crimes investigation we need or supported the foreign secretary's position? William Hague must be spitting mad."
Fox would later have to resign from his post due to the scandal.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Steve Reed
In 2015, Reed signed a letter alongside other lawmakers to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, stating that they “remain deeply concerned by the Government of Sri Lanka’s unwillingness to implement all the recommendations of the UNHRC report, by the widespread accounts of human rights abuses and the poor treatment of Tamils and other minorities”.
"In light of these circumstances, we would urge, at the very least, extreme caution by the UK Government when making decisions to significantly increase assistance to Sri Lanka and we would not be willing to support any changes to Home Office asylum policy in Sri Lanka which might make it even more difficult for survivors to secure protection in the UK."
Read more: Labour MPs question UK's funding of Sri Lankan military reform
In 2015, he served as the Executive of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – Lisa Nandy
Speaking at a conference held by Tamils for Labour, Shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy reaffirmed her party's demands for concrete action on Sri Lanka, including a referral to the International Criminal Court.
"We pushed in March for the UN resolution to include concrete measures, such as an International Independent Investigative Mechanism (III-M) and for a referral of cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC)."
"These concrete steps are really important to us," she told the conference.
Read more: British Labour party pushes for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – Hilary Benn
Serving as Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2016 Hilary Benn, reiterated his commitment to using his foreign affairs team to work towards an accountability process that won the confidence of the Tamil community.
Stressing the importance of genuine accountability and a political solution he said,
“In order to move on from conflict there must be accountability. And in order for that to happen the process must have the confidence of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and around the world. We are still quite a long way to go before people feel that those conditions have been met. There has to be a continuing political process that addresses the lack of autonomy and voice that the Tamil community has felt, to be heard and reconciled in a political solution in that country. I want to pledge support of the Labour foreign affairs team to justice, accountability and truth.”
Calling for an end to all ongoing violations in Sri Lanka, he added, “Torture in any form, in any country is completely unacceptable. If it is taking place and the reports are credible and sound it must stop.”
Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities) - Anneliese Dodds
Earlier this year, as chair of the Labour Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Anneliese Dodds, delivered a message on behalf of Starmer to a Mullivaikkal commemoration event, stating that “our thoughts as the Labour Party are with the Tamil victim-survivors and their loved ones”.
She also spoke on the importance of referring the “perpetrators of these dreadful crimes to the International Criminal Court”.