Sri Lanka has made little progress in fulfilling its human rights commitments, observed a panel at a British parliamentary event hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) joint with the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG).

The event on June 7th opened with the screening of the documentary ‘Silenced Survivors’, a film featuring harrowing testimonies of Tamil torture survivors, recounting their experiences at the hands of Sri Lankan military and authorities and raising their fears of ever returning. The film was produced by investigative journalist Emanuel Stokes.

Exiled Tamil victims who survived the final stages of the armed conflict on the island have called for international judges to participate in an accountability mechanism for mass atrocities, in a new report by the International Truth and Justice Project.

Launched on Friday, the report clearly identified the top priority of the victims as criminal accountability, including “the prosecution of those who were in positions of superior and command responsibility”.

The victims stated they would testify by video to a special court in Sri Lanka only if international judges were involved and their identities protected.

“These findings have huge implications for the design of the transitional justice mechanisms in Sri Lanka,” said Yasmin Sooka. “It’s important that thousands of Tamils who’ve fled Sri Lanka have a voice, especially as some are the only known surviving witnesses to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

A conference on international humanitarian and human rights law violations in Sri Lanka was held in the Danish Parliament this week, with speakers from around the world discussing mass atrocities committed on the island and the current human rights situation.

A memorial event was held in Jaffna last week, marking the tenth anniversary of the murder of two Uthayan journalists.

Dharmeratnam 'Taraki' Sivaram 11 August 1959 - 28 April 2005