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Minorities write to UN alleging human rights violations 

13 Sep 2021

By Pamodi Waravita  A total of ten religious and civil society leaders have written to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet claiming that, despite the adoption of HRC Resolution 46/1 at the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in March 2021, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has continued to commit human rights violations against minorities, especially those who engage in peaceful protests.   The group is led by the Co-ordinators of the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) movement Velan Swamigal and Kandaiah Jagathas, who have alleged that women are also being harassed by the actions of the Government.  “The leaders of the P2P march, held in February of this year, are continuously harassed by State intelligence officers, under the guise of ‘inquiry’. Leaders of peaceful protests of families of the disappeared and other victims, most of whom are women, are also harassed by State intelligence officers, some of whom visit their households at night,” said the letter.  The leaders have further claimed that families of enforced disappearances encounter numerous challenges with the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), as military personnel have been appointed to it by the Government, whilst ignoring numerous calls to appoint credible international experts on disappearances to its positions.  “The OMP, set up to address the disappearances, is used by successive governments to distract from the plight of the disappeared,” the letter added.  A similar memo sent by the Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances (North and East Provinces) has noted that the OMP is “completely inactive” and accused the GoSL of trying to “dilute” the issue by paying the families of victims compensation instead of investigating into the cause of the disappearances and finding out who the guilty party is.  The letter by the ten civil society and religious leaders has brought attention into the plight of Tamil political prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) No. 49 of 1978 and the issue of land grabbing in the Northern and Eastern provinces.  “Several Government departments, including the Mahaweli Authority, the Department of Archaeology, and the Department of Wildlife Conservation are used by this Government to grab land which traditionally belonged to the Tamil people.”  Similarly, the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) have written to Bachalet expressing their disappointment with the resolution as it does not even meet the minimum expectations of Tamil victims who expect international standards of accountability for alleged grave human rights violations.  Five constituent Parties of the Tamil People’s Alliance (TPA), led by Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK) Parliamentarian C.V. Wigneswaran also wrote to Bachalet, expressing their concerns over various issues faced by the Tamil minority in the country.  Earlier this year, the UNHRC passed resolution A/HRC/46/L.1, which recognises the importance of preserving evidence relating to violations of human rights in Sri Lanka to advance accountability, and as such a call has been made to implement an “evidence-preserving” mechanism in the country. It was adopted on 23 March at the UNHRC with 22 votes in favour of it and 11 votes in opposition, while 14 member states abstained from voting.  The UNHRC is due to hear the oral update by Bachalet on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka at its 48th session today (13).


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