Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe brushed off claims that his government had come under pressure to sign the Rome Statue and join the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Colombo Gazette reported the prime minister as saying,
“No one can put pressure on us and no one has put pressure on us”.
He went on to state that Sri Lanka would not be joining the ICC and reports of mass atrocities, as outlined in a UN report earlier this year, would be addressed through a domestic accountability mechanism.
Earlier this year the Coalition for the International Criminal Court launched a campaign calling on Sri Lanka to join the international court and “signal to its citizens and the international community that it is ready to break away from impunity and its violent past”.
The issue was also brought up at the UN Human Rights Council, with countries such as Estonia and Switzerland urging Sri Lanka to ratify the Rome Statute as a guarantee against non-recurrence.
Sri Lanka has so far refused.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
