Last week, thousands of Tamils gathered at Mullivaikkal, on the very beaches where tens of thousands were massacred by the Sri Lankan state in 2009, to mark the 16th anniversary of the genocide.
The turnout was remarkable, the largest since the end of the armed conflict, and a powerful testament to the strength and resilience of the Tamil nation. The commemoration was just one of a series of events that took place across the North-East this month. Each and every one, alongside the numerous gatherings that took place in cities around the world, from London to Sydney, affirmed what Tamils have asserted for decades: that the massacres which left as many as 167,769 unaccounted constitute a genocide.
This recognition is becoming a growing global reality. Heads of states are now routinely releasing messages to mark to occasion, with senior political figures and institutions increasingly acknowledging the scale and nature of the atrocities. From marches and rallies to exhibitions and discussions, the understanding that the crime inflicted on the Tamil nation was genocide is reaching new audiences and entering more prominent global spaces.
In response, the Sri Lankan government, now under the leadership of the National People’s Power (NPP), has been as defiant and hostile as every regime before it. In an interview this week, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath stated that the government would take legal action against those who refer to the 2009 killings as genocide. While he acknowledged individuals may mourn relatives, he reiterated that the state does not accept the term “genocide” and warned that those using it going forward, such as the survivors that gathered in Mullivaikkal or university students in Jaffna, will face consequences.
His words were deeply concerning, though not surprising. Alongside Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s eventual participation at the ‘Victory Day’ event in Colombo, the NPP government, despite its left-wing image and promise of systemic reform, has now firmly aligned itself with the same Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist framework that has dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades. In its eight months in office, there has been little appetite for meaningful change. Instead, its actions have mirrored those of its predecessors: denial of genocide, impunity for war criminals, and continued military occupation of the North-East.
For Tamils, this only reaffirms what has long been known. The issue on the island is not about which party or president is in power. The problem is the system itself - a state built on Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy that systematically subjugates the Tamil nation. Even the NPP, supposedly the most progressive force in Southern politics, ultimately conform to this entrenched political order.
While Tamils commemorated their dead and served kanji, events elsewhere cast this history in a broader global context. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, a former senior Israeli Defence Forces officer cited Sri Lanka’s 2009 offensive as a model for “eliminating” Hamas. He referred explicitly to the assault being carried out “without a Supreme Court or B’Tselem, Sri Lankan-style”, in reference to its disregard for international law and the impunity that followed. That same week, Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defence held talks with the Israeli ambassador in Colombo.
The parallels are sobering. It illustrates how Sri Lanka’s genocidal tactics - indiscriminate shelling, the targeting of hospitals, blockade of humanitarian aid, and a complete disregard for international humanitarian law - are now being studied as a blueprint for large-scale atrocities elsewhere.
Just days earlier, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher stood before the Security Council and warned that the global failure to stop atrocities in Gaza was echoing the UN’s failure in Sri Lanka in 2009. It is a warning the Tamil nation has issued repeatedly for more than a decade. The world’s refusal to halt Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities in 2009 and the unchecked massacres that took place, creates dangerous precedents, normalises impunity and emboldens others.
Sixteen years on, Mullivaikkal remains a powerful reminder of what happens when crimes of this scale are left unaddressed. If there is to be any hope of preventing future atrocities, whether in Gaza or elsewhere, there must be meaningful accountability. The international community must finally listen to Tamil voices that have, for too long, been ignored.