Canadian politicians across the political spectrum commemorate Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day and renew calls for accountability. 

Jagmeet Singh - Leader of New Democratic Party (NDP)

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said, “On Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, we remember the thousands of people who were massacred & disappeared by the Sri Lankan state.”

Students and staff at the University of Jaffna marked Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

Flowers with laid at a monument dedicated to the victims of the Tamil genocide. 

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and Opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre have issued statements commemorating Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

In a statement marking 15 years since the Tamil genocide, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) said that "Tamil resistance cannot be broken" as the Tamil nation remain "steadfast for their legitimate political rights."

Tamils in Glasgow held a demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland today to mark 15 years since the Tamil genocide. 

They held placards that read 'Eelam Tamils want international justice' and 'Tamils want action, not words'. 

BREAKING - Sri Lankan police officers wreak havoc at Tamil Genocide remembrance event organised by Eastern University students pic.twitter.com/1kUcEUKUlj

— Tamil Guardian (@TamilGuardian) May 18, 2024

A group of Sri Lankan police officers wreaked havoc and blocked the distribution of kanji as Eastern University students tried to commemorate Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

Sri Lankan police officers surrounded the students who were preparing the kanji outside the campus gates and demanded that they stopped the commemoration. 

Around 300 Tamils living around the coastal town of Southend-on-Sea in England descended on a beach at dusk on 17 May to remember their loved ones who perished in the genocide of Mullivaikkal on the island of Sri Lanka 15 years ago.

This event was one of many in Britain in the lead-up to Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, which is marked annually on 18 May.

Tamil relatives and family members of the disappeared, as well as representatives of the Missing Person’s Associations from the North-East, met with the General Secretary of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard to reiterate their call for an international mechanism to account for atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan government.

A hartal was held by businesses and traders in Mullaitivu to mark Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

On the 15th anniversary of the genocide at Mullivaikal, Amnesty International's Secretary-General, Agnes Callamard, has called on the international community to take decisive action by referring Sri Lanka to the United Nations Security Council with a view to an International Criminal Court investigation. Speaking to Tamil Guardian after attending the Mullivaikal commemoration today, Callamard highlighted the ongoing struggle for justice and the critical need for international intervention, including the application of universal jurisdiction to deliver justice when Sri Lankan war criminals travel abroad.