Marking the 40^th anniversary of Black July, an anti-Tamil pogrom that saw the slaughter of over 3,000 Tamils, British MPs are calling on the British government and the international community to recognise the pogrom as an act of genocide.

In a video statement, MP Elliot Colburn, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils stated that:

The North-East Coordinate Committee, a collective of 16 civil society organisations across the North-East, has urged the international community to reject the Sri Lankan government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) and instead implement an independent international investigation into war crimes.

The 40th anniversary of the Welikada prison massacre was commemorated at Valvettithurai, Jaffna. The massacre which resulted in the murder of 53 political prisoners was instigated during the Black July pogrom by prison officials.

The memorial was held under the leadership of Tamil MP M K Sivajilingam.

Among the victims were:

This year marks four decades since the genocidal violence of Black July. With the backing of the Sinhala Buddhist State, Sinhala mobs, armed with electoral rolls and transported by government-owned vehicles, unleashed a torrent of bloodshed killing over 3,000 Tamils, burning down thousands of Tamil homes and businesses, and displacing an estimated 150,000.

Sinhala extremist group, Sinhala Ravaya, disrupted a Black July commemoration event in Colombo over the weekend. 

Video footage from the commemoration shows a member of Sinhala Ravaya calling those particiapting in the commemoration 'kottiya' - a Sinhala term used to describe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 

Students from the University of Jaffna held a commemoration event to remember the thousands of Tamils that were murdered by state-sponsored Sinhala mobs during the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom. 

The students and staff at the university lit a flame and paid floral tributes to mark 40 years since the massacre. 

In a statement marking 40 years since the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom, advocacy organisation People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) highlighted Sri Lanka's culture of impunity and the need for an independent, international accountability mechanism.

Between 23rd and 30th July 1983, thousands of Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP government and state forces.

Marking the 40 years since the Black July pogrom, Eric Walsh Canada's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, tweeted that the "wounds from July 1983 have yet to heal."

Today, we remember the victims of the anti-Tamil violence that spread across Sri Lanka forty years ago. The wounds from July 1983 have yet to heal. 1/2

A Tamil freelance journalist, Vijayaratnam Saravanan, highlighted the ongoing media repression by Sri Lanka to Eric Walsh, the Canadian High Commissioner during his visit to Mullaitivu this week. 

The High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka, Eric Walsh, visited Jaffna this week, where he met with Tamil politicians, visited the Jaffna library and attended a film screening organised by Jaffna Transgender Network.