Marking 12 years since the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, the US House Committee for Foreign Affairs has issued a statement highlighting the damning findings of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which noted “ongoing impunity for human rights violations” and called on member states to consider “alternative accountability mechanisms”.
On Twitter the committee stated:
As we mark 12 years since the end of Sri Lanka’s decades long civil war, we remember the victims and survivors, and support their need for meaningful justice and accountability. Ongoing impunity for human rights violations continues to impede reconciliation efforts.
— House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) May 18, 2021
They further added:
We share the concerns raised by the January @UNHumanRights report on the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, support the U.S. and partners considering alternative accountability mechanisms, as laid out by @mbachelet, and reiterate the U.S. Gov support for UNHRC Resolution 46/1.
— House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) May 18, 2021
North Carolina Senator, Wiley Nickel, similarly issued a statement mourning Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day and noting the tragic loss of over 140,000 Tamil lives. In his statement, he highlights Sri Lanka’s unwillingness to continue cooperation with resolution 30/1 and called on the international community and the UN to take action to “promote reconciliation, accountability, and human rights”.
He further called on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish offices in the North-East so as to “collect evidence of genocide and monitor ongoing human rights and other violations”.
