During the 42nd Universal Period Review of human rights, UK permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Simon Manley CMG urged Sri Lanka to address the issue of land grabs in the North and East, the Tamil homeland, and allow memorialisation activities.
Denying victim’s experience
In September 2020, then UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff highlighted that the crackdown on memorialisation events including those that memoralised the fallen Tamil Tigers had a damaging psychological impact which was “retraumatizing and alienating”. This is because it denies victims a chance to memorialise their experiences.
“Grieving families have expressed the need to bury or destroy photographs of their deceased loved ones in uniform for fear of harassment by the security forces” he noted.
In his statement to the UN, Manly urged the Sri Lankan government to “allow all its communities freely to commemorate and memorialize victims of the civil war”.
Despite the continued crackdowns and surveillance, Tamils across the North East continue to gather en mass to remember those who sacrificed their lives during the armed struggle.
Continued landgrabs
Manly also urged the Sri Lankan government to “address concerns around land expropriation in the North and East by government departments, including the Archaeological department, and related restrictions on access to land”.
In March 2021, the Oakland Institute released a report which detailed the extent of the military land grabs that noted in Mullaitivu alone, the military has “acquired more than 16,910 acres of public and private land” and has set up “at least seven Army camps and five naval bases located just 15 km from the village of Alampil to the village of Kokkilai in Mullaitivu”.
For years Tamils have protested against the continued seizure of their homeland by Sri Lanka's military and Archaeological Department under the pretext of preserving historical sites. Tamil MPs have decried these justifications as a ploy to steal traditional Tamil land.
Repeal of the penal code
The UK representative also told the UN assembly that Sri Lanka needs to “repeal sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code, end criminalization of same-sex conduct and ensure equality and non-discrimination in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity”.
Read the full statement here.
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