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Sampanthan writes to UNHRC Mission Heads, says SL has not addressed post war commitments

03 Feb 2022

Against the backdrop of the lead up to the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC),where the situation in Sri Lanka is to be evaluated after the written update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights in keeping with the provisions of Resolution 46/1, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan has written to the Heads of Missions of the member states of the UNHRC claiming that Sri Lanka has not taken any meaningful steps to address its post war commitments in the last twelve years. “Within a week of the end of the armed ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka in May 2009, a joint communique was issued by the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations at the conclusion of the U.N Secretary General's visit to Sri Lanka on 23rd of May 2009, which inter alia stated - Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of Human Rights, in keeping with international Human Rights standards and Sri Lanka's international obligations. The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances,” Sampathan said He also said that in addition to not addressing the accountability issue, the government of Sri Lanka continues a programme of oppression of the Sri Lankan Tamils including militarisation, indefinite detention of political prisoners with several new arrests of also Civil Society and Media Personnel and family members and others memorialising their departed kith and kin, impeding displaced Tamil people from resettling on their lands through the actions of various Government Departments, the denial of traditional collective land rights and cattle grazing rights and intensifying surveillance of political and Civil society activists. Sampanthan further claimed that the most serious danger the Tamil people face is the issue of Land Grab that is going on in the pretext of archaeological explorations, Wild Life protection and protecting of forest reserves, in addition to driving the Tamil people out of their traditional habitats. “The government is engaged in a programme of redemarcation of divisional boundaries, and colonisation of historical Tamil speaking areas with new Sinhala settlers, so as to render any future settlement of the Tamil question nugatory. In this situation of uncertainty, Tamil people are leaving the country and seeking refuge abroad, in the interests of their own safety,” the TNA Leader said. He is of the opinion that such actions of the Sri Lankan Government are intended to defeat the concept accepted both domestically and internationally that the Tamil people are a people within a united and undivided Sri Lanka inhabiting the Northern and Eastern provinces as their area of historical habitation, and thereby progressively transform the Northern and Eastern provinces into a majority Sinhala Areas. “As the U.N.H.C.R meets in February and March 2022 to evaluate the performance of the Sri Lankan government on its commitments relating to resolution No 46 / 1 we urge the member states to clearly articulate that Sri Lanka has failed in its obligations to investigate allegations of violations and not taken any steps to address the Tamil National Question as the only sure means to ensure non Recurrence,” he said. Speaking on behalf of the Tamil people, a request was made so that observations at the interactive secessions would be made, which would urge the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by its commitments, both in respect of accountability and settling the Tamil National Question justly and also adopt measures that will compel the Sri Lankan Government to move in the right direction in conformity with all its commitments, to ensure that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka are able to continue to live in their Areas of Historical Habitation, the Northern and Eastern Provinces, within a United and Undivided Sri Lanka with Self- Respect, Dignity and Security.


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