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Tamil families of the disappeared protest earlier this week.
As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, prepares to visit Sri Lanka this month, the question is not what Tamil survivors will say — they have been saying it for over a decade. The question is whether the High Commissioner and the United Nations will listen and act.
This visit must not serve as a simple diplomatic exercise or a symbolic gesture. Given the unresolved history of mass atrocities that continue to scar the island, the UN Human Rights Chief has a responsibility. He must reject the Sri Lankan state’s tired narrative of reconciliation and domestic accountability mechanisms that have shielded perpetrators of those crimes. If the UN is serious about justice, this visit must centre the voices of Tamil survivors and reflect a commitment to sustained survivor-oriented engagement in the pursuit of justice.
Sixteen years after the Mullivaikkal genocide, the core structures of post-war repression remain intact. In the North-East, Tamils continue to live under militarisation, face ongoing land grabs, and Sinhalisation. Activists and journalists still operate under surveillance and with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) looming over their work and safety. More than 3,000 days of continuous protest by the families of the disappeared has not yielded answers nor accountability. More than 300 family members involved in this protest have passed away without answers. Political actors and successive Sri Lankan governments, including those that present themselves as reformers, have failed to challenge this status quo, let alone deliver justice.
With local political shifts and a changing international landscape, this visit may be an opportunity for the current Sri Lankan government to do what others before it have also tried - signal an apparent willingness to cooperate with global bodies, while continuing to reject international accountability. It is precisely this sort of narrative that the High Commissioner must not become complicit in or validate.
The UN and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have played vital roles in documenting human rights abuses, publishing reports, and keeping Sri Lanka on the international agenda. The Sri Lanka Accountability Project has preserved critical evidence and documents, while the OHCHR has called for “targeted sanctions”, including asset freezes and travel bans.
But survivors know the limits of documentation without action. Attention alone does not bring justice and reform. For many, the UN has come to symbolise a system more invested in dialogue than results, even as Sri Lanka consistently rejects international mechanisms. As the Sri Lanka Accountability Project nears the end of its current mandate, the UN must do more than renew it. It must ensure that it is meaningfully implemented and expanded. If the High Commissioner wishes to reinforce the legitimacy of the OHCHR’s and UN’s work, and show that UN reports are more than documentation exercises, he must ensure survivors are heard and demonstrate that the UN is committed and willing to act to protect human rights and challenge impunity.
Ahead of his visit, the Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances issued a powerful open letter to the High Commissioner. They made two modest but vital requests: a meeting with him, and a visit to Mullivaikkal, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in 2009. These are not just symbolic gestures. They are calls to bear witness, to acknowledge grief in a state that polices remembrance and commemoration. As the Association wrote, visiting Mullivaikkal would not only allow the High Commissioner to “witness the truth firsthand” but would “offer spiritual solace” to grieving families. It would send a clear message that the UN does not look away from atrocity, but that it stands with victims in defiance of denial and erasure.
Meeting with Tamil survivors and civil society is non-negotiable. Despite travelling to Geneva and making repeated efforts to secure a meeting, the Association has been unable to meet with the High Commissioner. They have made the decision to forgo their participation in the upcoming 59th session of the Human Rights Council so that they can be present during his visit, in hopes that they will finally be heard.
Engagement with Tamil civil society must take place in the North-East and not solely in Colombo. Not just through elites, but with consideration for grassroots actors and on-ground realities. The High Commissioner must avoid validating domestic frameworks that have shielded perpetrators and consolidated impunity. Justice cannot be delivered by those who continue to deny it. Justice cannot be delivered while Tamils continue to live under occupation and the lasting impacts of the genocide. It begins by recognising the agency of survivors, hearing their voice, and acting.
What is needed is not engagement for engagement’s sake, but meaningful survivor-centred action. For the dead and the disappeared, for the grieving families, for those born after 2009 who continue to live under occupation and repression, this visit must be more than a gesture. It must be a step towards justice.
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Kanmani is a staff writer at the Tamil Guardian.