Families of the disappeared in Mannar have submitted a list of demands to the United Nations, including the appointing of a Special Rapporteur and referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court, as it approaches a deadline at the Human Rights Council.
“The Sri Lankan government is not going to punish itself for its crimes,” said the leaders of the protest at a press conference last week.
Information on the whereabouts of those who surrendered during the final stages of the armed conflict has been withheld from the families of the disappeared for over ten years now. Protests have been taking place across the Tamil homeland seeking justice for their loved ones, yet their campaign has been met with broken pledges from Colombo.
The families laid out four major demands to the United Nations in their submitted demands;
- We demand that you immediately terminate the deadline given to Sri Lanka with regards to accountability.
- We demand that the UN Human Rights Council urges the UN Secretary-General to conduct a full international non-partisan investigation through the International Criminal Court for the genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that took place in Sri Lanka.
- The United Nations Committee for Disappeared Persons should recommend to the UN Secretary-General that a thorough investigation is undertaken with regards to Sri Lanka
- We demand that you appoint a UN Special Rapporteur for Sri Lanka to monitor, improve and assist Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka.
Read the full list of their demands in Tamil here.
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