Welcoming the UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an international inquiry into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities as the first international recognition of Sri Lanka's unwillingness to investigate itself, Northern Province Councillor Ananthy Sasitharan said the international community had to go further and take urgent action to address the worsening situation in the island’s North-East.
“The decision by the UN Human Rights Council to pass this resolution is welcome, but it's not enough,” she told Tamil Guardian by telephone shortly after the Council voted.
"The people here are pleased that the world has finally acknowledged that Tamils will never get justice from Sri Lanka, the international community needs to step in. However, we cannot forget that the resolution doesn't do anything to help us immediately," she said.
"The situation on the ground is getting worse by the day, as the Tamil people are subject to an ongoing genocide.”
"That's why we want the international community to act urgently, not just to give us justice, but to address our immediate and serious problems, such as militarisation and detention of Tamils. All of these things have intensified even as the Council was discussing Sri Lanka."
“So, although the Tamil people welcome the initiative at the HRC led by the United States and are thankful of the efforts of the member and co-sponsor states that brought the resolution about, the international community now has to go further and take immediate action to stop what is happening right now.”
In the weeks preceding Thursday’s vote, Ms. Sasitharan, along with other speakers from the Northeast, had addressed the HRC, outlining the ongoing genocide of the Tamil people.
She also told Tamil Guardian, “The international community has to work with the elected representatives of the Tamil people, the TNA, other actors on the ground, the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in India to work towards a just and sustainable political solution.”
Find full coverage of the UNHRC vote and reactions to the resolution mandating the OHCHR to undertake an inquiry here.
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