Responding to the announced sanctions by the Canadian government on former Sri Lankan Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa, as well as two other state officials, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has hit back claiming that these actions are a “violation of the rights that Canada claims to uphold”.
The Canadian sanctions marked a historic milestone as they sanctioned two former Sri Lankan presidents for their role in perpetuating egregious human violations against Tamils during the armed conflict.
The statement released by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry warned that sanctions may “polarise communities and have a detrimental impact on ongoing processes in place to secure socio-economic stability”. The statement further claimed that the Sri Lankan government was taking progressive steps and pointed to discussions Sri Lanka’s president has had over the release of military-occupied land, political prisoners, and addressing the issues of forced disappearances as well as introducing a 21st amendment to the constitution.
Despite the alleged progress, the Sri Lankan government reports to have made, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has threatened to walk out of discussions with the government due to a lack of progress on key issues affecting the Tamil community.
Whilst the Sri Lankan government has repeatedly insisted on a domestic-led process, repeated reports from the United Nations have highlighted a lack of progress on issues of accountability and a lack of political will.
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