Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Seventeen years on, Kepapilavu residents still blocked from ancestral lands
Residents of Kepapilavu in Mullaitivu continued their protest for a ninth consecutive day on Wednesday, demanding the immediate release of 59.5 acres of ancestral residential land that they say remains under Sri Lankan military occupation. The protest, taking place in the Karaithuraipattu divisional area, is being led by families who have been unable to return to their original lands for more…

America’s Sri Lankan Dilemma - Callum Macrae

Sep 17, 2015
Writing in Foreign Policy, the director of the No Fire Zone documentary, highlighted that the message of reform that Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry offered to the international community belied the living realities of the Tamil victim community in Sri Lanka.

Highlighting levels of Tamil distrust with any domestic accountability process to deal with findings of the UN investigation in to Sri Lanka's atrocities, Mr Macrae, said,

“And that problem is a yawning gulf between the message coming out of the government of Sri Lanka when it is facing the rest of the world—and the message it gives when facing the Tamils in the former war zones of the North.  Unless the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)—and in particular the government of the United States—make an effort to understand that gulf, all the genuine movement towards truth and justice over the past couple of years may come to nothing.“

UN Sec General welcomes OISL report, urges credible accountability

Sep 17, 2015
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon welcomes the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, said his spokesperson in a statement released on Thursday, adding that he hoped for "a genuine and credible process of accountability and reconciliation that meets international standards."

"The Secretary-General welcomes the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka," the statement read.

"He hopes that its important recommendations will help support the efforts of the people and the Government of Sri Lanka to carve a durable path toward long-lasting peace and stability and respect for human rights, through a genuine and credible process of accountability and reconciliation that meets international standards.  The victims of all communities, their families and the Sri Lankan nation itself demand no less than a full and proper reckoning."

Fonseka rejects majority of OISL charges

Sep 17, 2015
Sri Lanka's army general at the time of the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils during the final stages of the armed conflict, said he rejected the majority of charges made in the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL), which was published on Wednesday.

General Sarath Fonseka however urged the government to conduct an inquiry "in case soldiers had been ordered by another military official to kill civilians", the Daily Mirror reported.

He reportedly added that as far as he knew, "there had been no killing of civilians who had surrendered during the last phase of the war."

14 Sri Lankan civil society groups endorse call for hybrid special court

Sep 17, 2015
Fourteen Sri Lankan civil society groups, together with 39 activists welcomed the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) report, which was released on Wednesday, and endorsed the OISL's call for a hybrid special court to be established.

"We fully endorse and call for the immediate implementation of the OISL’s recommendations to the GoSL, the UN system and the Member States of the UNHRC," the groups said in a joint statement on Friday.

Sri Lankan president expects to implement capital punishment

Sep 17, 2015

Sri Lankan President Maithriapala Sirisena said that he is expecting to approve capital punishment on the island by next year, if he receives parliamentary approval.

Speaking in Galle today the president said that though he did not have to seek parliamentary approval, he would do consult with parliament and seek its opinion.

Earlier this year, whilst meeting with Buddhist monks Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe also stated that his government was prepared to implement capital punishment in order to put a halt to an increase in crime.

International magistrates and investigators the only way to get justice – NYT

Sep 17, 2015

The New York Times called for a special court with international magistrates and investigators to prosecute those responsible for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka, in an editorial published on Thursday.

Writing on the release of the OISL report, it said the was “a clear rejection of the proposal made on Monday by Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, who told the Council that his government would set up a truth, justice and reconciliation commission, and draft a new constitution”.

Liberal Party of Canada committed to prosecutions and travel bans on perpetrators of genocide in Sri Lanka

Sep 17, 2015

The Liberal Party of Canada welcomed the OISL report into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka and said it would work towards investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide who may be in Canada.

In a statement released on Friday, the party said it “remains committed to working with the international community to ensure that Canada does its part in seeking justice in Sri Lanka”.

It also said:

“This includes exercising the universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide who may be in Canada.  We will also implement a travel ban against those who might have been part of the chain of command within the Sri Lankan armed forces.”

“The victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Sri Lanka have waited far too long for answers,” said Marc Garneau Liberal Candidate for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount.  “This report, for the first time, gives some hope on the road to accountability and peace in Sri Lanka.  We commend the witnesses for coming forward with their stories – and braving all odds, and at times taking extraordinary risks to be heard so that justice can be achieved.”

‘International component should be given control’ in Sri Lankan accountability mechanism - TCSF

Sep 17, 2015
The Tamil Civil Society Forum said that any accountability mechanism for mass atrocities committed in Sri Lanka needs “substantive international involvement” that “should be given pride of place and control”.

Signed by 22 organisations, the statement said “for a hybrid mechanism to be truly hybrid in character it needs substantive international involvement not just by incorporating international judges, investigators and prosecutors but also in terms of it being in part led by the UN and by being internationally legally mandated”.

“The international component should be given pride of place and control over the domestic component in a hybrid mechanism for it to be deemed credible,” the statement added. “It is our understanding that this would be the minimum necessary requirement of a genuine accountability process in Sri Lanka. It is important to make sure that victims are not misled and frustrated again with a half-baked attempt at accountability.”

HRC should mandate ‘significant international participation’ in accountability process – ICG

Sep 17, 2015

The International Crisis Group said the release of the OISL report was a “dramatic advance” and urged members of the UN Human Rights Council to “mandate significant international participation in all stages of the domestic accountability processes”.

The group further said members of the Council should mandate formal review of the implementation and effectiveness of all truth, reconciliation and accountability mechanisms over the next two years.

TNA welcomes OISL report, urges all recommendations to be adopted

Sep 16, 2015
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday welcomes the findings of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) which were released in a report on Wednesday and called on all parties including the Sri Lankan government and the international community to adopt all the recommendations.

"The most important recommendation of the report calls on Sri Lanka to establish a special hybrid court to try perpetrators of international crimes during a nine year period with the participation of international judges, prosecutors and investigators; and incorporating into domestic law war crimes and crimes against humanity so that these prosecutions can take place," the party, which won a sweeping majority of the seats at Sri Lanka's general election last month, said in a statement.

"We ask the member states of the Human Rights Council to adopt all the recommendations in the OISL report in the resolution to be presented later at this session," the TNA added.

UN Sec General welcomes OISL report, urges credible accountability
Fonseka rejects majority of OISL charges
14 Sri Lankan civil society groups endorse call for hybrid special court
Sri Lankan president expects to implement capital punishment
International magistrates and investigators the only way to get justice – NYT
Liberal Party of Canada committed to prosecutions and travel bans on perpetrators of genocide in Sri Lanka
‘International component should be given control’ in Sri Lankan accountability mechanism - TCSF
HRC should mandate ‘significant international participation’ in accountability process – ICG
TNA welcomes OISL report, urges all recommendations to be adopted
GTF welcomes OISL report, endorses hybrid special court for prosecutions
UN Sec General welcomes OISL report, urges credible accountability
Fonseka rejects majority of OISL charges
14 Sri Lankan civil society groups endorse call for hybrid special court
Sri Lankan president expects to implement capital punishment
International magistrates and investigators the only way to get justice – NYT
Liberal Party of Canada committed to prosecutions and travel bans on perpetrators of genocide in Sri Lanka
‘International component should be given control’ in Sri Lankan accountability mechanism - TCSF
HRC should mandate ‘significant international participation’ in accountability process – ICG
TNA welcomes OISL report, urges all recommendations to be adopted
GTF welcomes OISL report, endorses hybrid special court for prosecutions