Gary Anandasangaree of Lawyer's Rights Watch Canada has slammed Sri Lanka's 'ruthless program' to disenfranchise the Tamil people and demographic campaign of Sinhalisation in the North-East, when addressing the 22nd Session of the UNHRC, earlier on Wednesday.
Speaking in Geneva, Anandasangaree said,
"The North and East of Sri Lanka are traditional Tamil territory with a unique language and culture. Sri Lanka has undertaken a campaign against the Tamil people to systematically mute their voice, and agency over a 65 year period. This campaign has progressively curtailed the democratic franchise of Tamils in the East. The same ruthless program is now undertaken in the North. Increased militarization, land grab, and the establishment of new Sinhalese settlements in traditional Tamil areas are exasperating the Sinhalization and Budhization of the North."
"This is no longer an armed conflict – but a demographic one – one that is based on artificially changing the population that would assimilate Tamils as one monolithic group within the island."
He also slammed Sri Lanka's repeated criticism of the United Nations Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka, stating,
"We reject the statements of Minister Samarasinghe and others that this was a “private consultation” undertaken by the Secretary General. We wish to remind this Council that the Secretary General is the head of the United Nations and as such cannot commission private work – in effect, all of his undertaking ought to be in the public realm, inline with the principles of transparency and accountability."
See his full address here.
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