Published 14:22 CET
An event held on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council earlier today highlighted ongoing rights violations occurring in North-East of the island of Sri Lanka, calling for a international Commission of Inquiry into abuses committed during the armed conflict and that carry on to this day.
Organised by the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism on the sidelines of the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, the event saw speakers from the North-East who described the violations that continued to take place and called for a international Commission of Inquiry. Speakers that addressed the event included IMADR President Nimalka Fernando, Anne-Kathrin Glatz from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, TNA Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan, Rev. Jeyabalan a member of the Christian clergy in Mannar, Sri Lankan human rights activist and lawyer Niran Anketell, and Sandya Ekneligoda, whose husband Prageeth, a renowned cartoonist, was disappeared.
See live coverage from the event on our Twitter page - @TamilGuardian
IMADR president Nimalka Fernando also told the event how the denial of the right to self-determination was just one of the several violations currently taking place, adding,
“the reconciliation that is needed should also provide dignity to the Tamil Nation on the island.”
Fernando went on to tell the audience,
"The international intervention we are calling for is a just cause, people in Sri Lanka have waited for long enough... The issue is not just about setting up any international mechanism.... We need a comprehensive international investigation that addresses violations before during and after the war."
Anne-Kathrin Glatz from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre noted the plight of IDPs in the North-East, stating that government figures which claim that there were 23,568 were false. She stated that figures obtained from the organisation’s research suggested that there were over 90,000 IDPs.
Also addressing the event was Reverend Jeyabalan from Mannar who spoke of ongoing disappearances in the North-East, including the recent abduction of a Tamil priest.
Speaking on the current situation he went on to add,
“There is a clear attempt to change the ethnic makeup of the North-East through land grabs and militarisation”.
Northern Province Councillor, Ananthi Sasitharan outlined the ongoing genocide of the Tamil people telling the audience that,
“The government is trying to systematically destroy the Tamil nation. They are destroying its culture, politics economy and society.”
Calling for a Commission of Inquiry and a political solution that addresses the root causes of the conflict, she added,
“Sri Lanka has done nothing towards reconciliation and the root causes of the conflict remain unresolved. The Sri Lankan state is conducting: land grabs amounting to demographic changes, military occupation, coercive birth control methods, torture of political prisoners and other ongoing human rights violations. All of this is aimed at breaking down the Tamil nation. They are using these methods to carry out a genocide of our people.”
See her full speech here.
Speaking on the futility of calling upon Sri Lanka to investigate these crimes, Niran Anketell, a Sri Lankan human rights activist and lawyer stated that the Sri Lankan government does not need any more time and space to address these issues. Commenting on the lack of independence in the judiciary, he went on to say,
“What are the prospects of a domestic process where every judge is picked by the president himself?”
Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of disappeared cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, also spoke at the event saying that all those who lost their love ones need to have truth and justice.