14:39 CET
Speaking to Tamil Guardian minutes after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution requesting the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to undertake a comprehensive investigation into Sri Lanka's mass atrocities, the spokesperson of the Global Tamil Forum said the organisation was grateful to the US and all co-sponsors, and called on the international community to "make it abundantly clear to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government the consequences of non-cooperation and/or if they obstruct the investigation directly or indirectly."
Mr. Suren Surendiran said,
"The Global Tamil Forum is very grateful to the US and to all of the co-sponsors for bringing a resolution, explaining the rational, gaining international support and for successfully passing it calling for an independent international investigation into allegations of past breaches of various local and international law."Drawing particular attention to the UK's role in pursuing the resolution, he added,
"This has been the general Tamil peoples’ including GTF’s demand since the end of the armed conflict in May 2009. We are particularly thankful to the UK Prime Minister Cameron for raising international awareness of the current plight of the Tamil people in the island during CHOGM during November 2013 in Sri Lanka and since. We know the efforts taken by the many staff at the FCO and the US State Dept to make this a successful resolution and we are very grateful to all at these institutions."Asked for what the organisation would be pushing for, now that the resolution had been adopted, Mr. Surendiran said,
"What now of paramount importance is that the Office of the High Commissioner makes an authoritative public statement on how witnesses and their families will be protected in the event of those witnesses coming forward to give evidence. It is every affected Tamil person's responsibility to come forward to give evidence, equally of non-Tamils including the Sinhalese people, institutions (local and international) and sometimes several governments’ to provide whatever credible evidences they are privy to, to make this international investigation complete and comprehensive."See here for official statement issued by GTF on Friday.
"It is also extremely important that the international community as a whole make it abundantly clear to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government the consequences of non-cooperation and/or if they obstruct the investigation directly or indirectly."
Find full coverage of the UNHRC vote and reactions to the resolution mandating the OHCHR to undertake an inquiry here.