Australian Senator Lee Rhiannon called on the international community to ensure pressure is kept on the Sri Lankan government for accountability for atrocities committed on the island and an end to the occupation of the Tamil homeland.

See the full text of her message below.

This month we mark the genocide that took place in Northern Sri Lanka, the Tamil homeland in 2009.

7 years later the Tamils in the diaspora and in the homeland continue to resist the ongoing brutality against them under the new president of Sri Lanka.

The perpetrators of mass atrocities continue to enjoy “total freedom” under the current Sri Lankan government said the Student’s Union at the University of Jaffna, in a statement released to mark 7 years since the massacres of 2009.

“The painful thoughts remain as unhealed wounds in our hearts even today, and the memories of this day, that year, recollect in our minds once again,” said the statement.

“The justice that was denied for the innocent people who laid down their lives on that day, is now become a covered up justice,” it continued. “Under the guise of good governance, the government has extended total freedom to those who committed these heinous crimes, and without subjecting them to interrogation.”

Tamil National Alliance Leader R Sampanthan met with the former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to discuss issues affecting Tamils in the North-East.

During the meeting Mr Sampanthan stressed the need for resolving the issues such as releasing civilian land currently under Sri Lankan military control, repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the release of political prisoners according to an official press release.

The Tamil Civil Society Forum, in a statement released in Mullivaikkal remembrance week, said that the “crimes being committed against the Tamil people are not declining.”

“Arrests, violence and land encroachments are on the rise. Militarisation is also continuing. The government’s violence continues against those, who resorted to armed struggle for our cause,” read the statement.