The Tamil Rights Group (TRG) called on Canada to "do more to hold Sri Lanka accountable for its ongoing genocide against ethnic Tamils on the island" in a statement condemning the demolition of the Mullivaikkal memorial.
Yesterday, a memorial monument in Jaffna University campus was demolished by the authorities while protesters staged a protest outside the university entrance calling on them to stop the demolition.
The monument was constructed in 2019 to remember the tens of thousands of Tamils killed in the Mullivaikkal massacre perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state in May 2009 at the end of the armed conflict.
TRG highlighted that the demolition of the monument "reveals an all too familiar pattern of ongoing erasure, structural violence, and genocidal intent against Tamils - and now also increasingly Muslims- on the island."
Acknowledging the recent statements by Canadian politicians expressing concern over the demolition, the TRG called on the Government of Canada to "play an even more active role" in the upcoming session at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The organisation has urged Canada to work with other members of the Core Group on Sri Lanka " to sponsor a special resolution to create an International Independent Investigative Mechanism relating to Sri Lankan to investigate and prosecute for serious international crimes committed in Sri Lanka."
Read the full statement here.
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