A former member of the Catalan parliament and jurist backed calls for Tamil self determination and called for the recognition of the Tamil nation, in an address in London last month.
“As a Catalan and a former member of the Council of the Judiciary in Spain and of the Parliament of Catalonia, I understand and share the plight of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka, and its struggle for recognition, survival, human rights and justice,” said Alfons Lopez Tena.
Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils annual event, the former MP went on to say,
“Any settlement for a lasting peace with justice and dignity for all involved requires to take effective measures to investigate, punish and prevent war crimes and human rights violations, and to address the conflict’s root cause: to recognise the Tamil Nation in the island of Sri Lanka, to guarantee Tamils’ home rule, to share power in a bi-national Sri Lankan state under the rule of law, to grant Tamils’ right to self determination, and to allow them to freely exercise it.”
See more from the event in our earlier post:
Cross party reiteration on need for international component to Sri Lanka's accountability process (26 Mar 2016)