Self-determination a necessity to address systemic violations against Tamils – BTF

“While the OISL investigation is present and the efforts to facilitate submissions are ongoing, however, it is of utmost importance, in a time where the Sri Lankan State is under extreme pressure and is in the focal point of the international community, to engage with all possible UN Human Rights mechanisms in order to force the Sri Lankan State to comply with human rights and to establish the case of violation of collective rights.”

  “Following the review of Sri Lanka, we were happy to notice that the expert committee confronted the state with critical questions and positively included information provided by all NGOs into consideration. AS an outcome we expect strong recommendations regarding the implementation of the ICCPR, which is one of the most important human rights treaties, and are hopeful that these will be positively acknowledged by other UN bodies in the process of holding perpetrators of mass atrocities in Sri Lanka accountable.”

“The collective human security of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka rests on providing them with an opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination under the ICCPR’s Article 1. The failure to address Article 1 during the state review process is significant. The Human Rights Committee needs to do more than just acknowledge the incidences of these violations and point out the need for addressing the structural factors that lead to such systemic violations."