Not only does acting on Sri Lanka provide Sunak the opportunity to re-establish Britain’s presence internationally, it also remains entirely in British interests to do so. Successive Sri Lankan regimes have shirked off the building of any rules-based international order and refused to comply with global norms. Holding the state to account will be a demonstration that to the British government, values matter. The UK will not condone mass atrocities or genocides from Bucha and Xinjiang to Jaffna and Mullivaikkal. Sri Lanka is not Sunak’s toughest test on the global stage at present. In fact, it should be his easiest. If Sunak wants to build a Global Britain, this is where he should start.
Writing in The Tribune this week, Tamil Guardian Staff Writer Bharati Selvakumar commented on Britain’s historic and current support of Sri Lanka and “whether Britain will live up to its responsibilities and hold Sri Lanka accountable – or if the government will continue to whitewash this genocidal history”. Selvakumar described Britain’s “lip service” to the idea of accountability but repeated failures to take any meaningful action. Instead, Selvakumar notes how “ behind closed doors, the British government has continued arms sales, the training of Sri Lanka’s security forces, and has even...