The Catalan city of Barcelona has called for an investigation into the genocide of Tamils by Sri Lanka, and to recognise the rights of the Tamil people to an independent homeland,  Tamil Eelam.

In a resolution voted by the city’s municipal council on January 25, representatives denounced systematic violations against the rights of Tamils, urged the recognition of Tamil sovereignty and called for an end to the Sri Lankan military’s occupation of the Tamil homeland.

See the full text of the resolution, passed by the council as an ‘institutional declaration’ below. Original Catalan text here.

The Plenary of the Municipal Council of the City of Barcelona agrees:

We denounce the systematic violation and contempt of the fundamental rights of the Tamil people, as well as defend the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family that constitute the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Second: We denounce the massacre suffered by the Tamil people over all these years, war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the last stages of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and which exceeded over 40,000 Tamil civilian deaths.

Third: We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to implement resolutions 30/1 and 34/1 that they themselves signed under the title "Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka“ during the sessions of the Human Rights Council held in Geneva in September 2015 in which was proposed, among other things, the establishment of a judicial mechanism with a special counsel to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law. [Resolution] 34/1 allows an extension to the application 30/1 until March 2019.

Fourth: We urge: 

• -the restoration of peace in this region enforcing international law

• -the release of [political prisoners] of Sri Lanka

• -the establishment of an international investigation into the genocide perpetrated by the government of Sri Lanka

• -to put an end to the 36 years of occupation of Tamil territories by the Sri Lankan army

• -the defence of the right of the Tamil people to enjoy an independent, sovereign and viable state: Tamil Eelam

• -the recognition of the principle of the right to return for Tamil refugees

• -the guarantee of the security of both the Tamil and the Sinhalese through a mutual agreement with international guarantees

• -to put an end to the forms of terrorism on the part of the government of Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese army, or any group of individuals who pose a threat to the lives of civilians

Fifth: We support the request to the Human Rights Council to take Sri Lanka before the International Criminal Court by:

a) the petition for investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of possible crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the Tamil people after July 2002.

b) the petition to the UN High Commissioner [for Human Rights] for the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on Sri Lanka to investigate systematic violations of human rights.