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Streeting attends a Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day event in 2015.
As Wes Streeting sets out to challenge Keir Starmer to become the next leader of the Labour party and Britain’s next Prime Minister, British Tamils are looking back on his record of years of engagement on accountability, genocide remembrance and Tamil self-determination.
Over more than a decade in public life, Streeting has emerged as one of Labour’s most consistently vocal figures on Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam. From travelling to Geneva to lobby diplomats at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), to attending Tamil genocide commemorations, Heroes' Day (or Maaveerar Naal) remembrance events, Thai Pongal celebrations and Tamil Heritage Month gatherings, Streeting has repeatedly aligned himself with calls for international accountability and justice for atrocities committed against Eelam Tamils.
His remarks have included references to genocide, support for Magnitsky sanctions, calls for International Criminal Court (ICC) referrals and criticism of Britain’s relationship with successive Sri Lankan governments.
Early engagement and APPG for Tamils involvement
Streeting’s engagement with Tamil issues predates his election to Parliament in 2015.
Whilst campaigning to become MP for Ilford North, a constituency with a sizeable British Tamil population, Streeting pledged support for international accountability efforts into atrocities committed during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009.
“We must not let the promise of an independent international inquiry become yet another broken promise to the Tamil people, who have waited too long for truth and justice,” he said in 2015.
After entering Parliament, Streeting became vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T), quickly establishing himself as one of Labour’s most visible parliamentary voices on accountability in Sri Lanka.
In September 2015, during a Commons debate on Tamil rights in Sri Lanka, Streeting argued that domestic accountability mechanisms in Sri Lanka alone could not deliver justice for mass atrocities.
“There can be no justice without accountability,” he told Parliament, adding that “We cannot trust the domestic structures in Sri Lanka to ensure genuine accountability for the crimes that took place, which is why independent international mechanisms will be so important."
That same year, he joined British Tamil advocacy efforts surrounding the landmark UNHRC Resolution 30/1, which committed Sri Lanka to a range of transitional justice measures including foreign participation in accountability mechanisms.
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Lobbying at the UN Human Rights Council
Streeting has also repeatedly travelled to Geneva during UN Human Rights Council sessions on Sri Lanka.
The former health secretary travelled to Geneva in 2015 during negotiations around the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, meeting diplomats and human rights organisations in an effort to strengthen accountability provisions.
The British Tamils Forum stated that:
“Wes Streeting, James Berry and Tania Mathias went separately to Geneva to speak with various countries’ delegations and human rights groups about the draft resolution on Sri Lanka and seek to have it strengthened.”
Streeting would continue making similar visits in subsequent years.
In a 2018 statement published on his official website after attending a Mullivaikkal remembrance event in Parliament, he wrote:
"Year after year I have travelled to Geneva to make sure that the international community holds the Sri Lankan Government to account. They made a commitment to involve international judges and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed during the civil war. Now they must deliver.
It is to the eternal shame of the international community that we looked the other way while innocent people were subjected to unimaginable acts of violence and terror. We owe it to you and to all the Tamil people never to look away again."
He added:
“They made a commitment to involve international judges and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes committed during the civil war. Now they must deliver.”
Streeting again referenced his Geneva lobbying during a 2021 Commons debate on Sri Lanka.
“This time last year... I was in Geneva, lobbying delegations and missions to the UN Human Rights Council about the need for firm action at UN level,” he said.
Tamil genocide remembrance
Streeting has attended and addressed multiple Tamil genocide remembrance events over the years, both inside Parliament and at public commemorations organised by British Tamil organisations.
In May 2016, Streeting attended a parliamentary Mullivaikkal remembrance event where MPs openly referred to the atrocities committed against Tamils as genocide.
Speaking at the event, Streeting lamented the international community’s failure to act in 2009.
“We have not taken our eye off the ball in ensuring the resolution is implemented,” he said. “Plenty of parliamentarians who will not look away this time."
Days later, Streeting addressed a major Mullivaikkal remembrance gathering outside 10 Downing Street organised by British Tamil groups.
“There can be no hiding place for crimes that can only be perceived as genocide,” he declared.
.@wesstreeting there can be no hiding place for crimes that can only be perceived as #genocide #Mullivaikal #may18 pic.twitter.com/nA4ekEDu3H
— Tamil Guardian (@TamilGuardian) May 18, 2016
The event saw hundreds of British Tamils gather in central London to commemorate those massacred in Mullivaikkal and demand international justice.
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In 2018, Streeting attended a Tamils for Labour Mullivaikkal event in Parliament and published a lengthy statement afterwards. “The events of the final weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war were among the most bloody and barbaric,” he wrote.
“We have a responsibility to honour the memory of the deceased and the disappeared and to continue our quest for truth, accountability and reconciliation.”
He added:
“It is to the eternal shame of the international community that we looked the other way while innocent people were subjected to unimaginable acts of violence and terror.”
“We owe it to you and to all the Tamil people never to look away again.”
Streeting also sent video messages to Mullivaikkal commemorations organised by British Tamil groups during later years, reiterating his support for accountability and remembrance.
See his address delivered at a 2015 genocide commemoration event below.
In 2024, speaking at an event marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Tamil genocide, Streeting reiterated support for ICC referrals and accountability measures.
“It is so important if international law and human rights are to mean anything it is really important that individuals are held to account through the International Criminal Court,” he said.
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He added that such remembrance events served as:
“a reminder to the government today, and to potentially a different government after the general election, that there is enormous support for your cause here in Parliament.”
Maaveerar Naal commemorations
Streeting also became repeatedly publicly engaged with Heroes Day (or Maaveerar Naal) commemorations, where Eelam Tamils around the globe pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the liberation struggle.
This afternoon I joined the Tamil community at the Excel exhibition centre for their #MaaveerarNaal commemoration. I’ve fought consistently against historic and ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and for the right to self-determination for all the peoples of Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/vKghTEucNj
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) November 27, 2019
In 2019, he attended a Maaveerar Naal event at London’s ExCeL Centre and posted publicly afterwards:
“This afternoon I joined the Tamil community at the Excel exhibition centre for their #MaaveerarNaal commemoration.”
“I’ve fought consistently against historic and ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and for the right to self-determination for all the peoples of Sri Lanka.”
In 2020, Streeting again marked Maaveerar Naal and spoke about the suffering of families of the disappeared.
He underlined the need:
“to recognise the hurt and pain that families still suffer not just as a result of their own experiences of those terrible events, but also the sense of despair they feel at the missing”.
He concluded with a direct pledge to Tamil campaigners:
“We’re with you, we’ll be campaigning with you and for you, and we will not rest until justice is delivered.”
Calls for Magnitsky sanctions and ICC referral
Over time, Streeting’s rhetoric on Sri Lanka became increasingly focused on sanctions and international legal accountability.
Also, in 2020, Streeting, who was Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, delivered a message passing on his “reassurance that I and other members of parliament across all political parties will be working together, not just to make sure that the prosecution of historic rights abuses remains on the international community’s agenda.”
“We’re with you, we’ll be campaigning with you and for you, and we will not rest until justice is delivered,” he concluded.
That same year, Streeting urged the Foreign Secretary to make progress on an international justice mechanism to achieve accountability in Sri Lanka, following the pardoning of a Sri Lankan soldier convicted for the murder of 8 Tamil civilians.
During a parliamentary debate in 2021, he urged the British government to impose Magnitsky sanctions on Sri Lankan officials accused of atrocity crimes. He said:
"We can take bilateral action to apply Magnitsky sanctions against the rogues and criminals who perpetrated human rights abuses."
"At this point, after many years of campaigning for justice, my Tamil constituents are looking not just for warm words but for action and leadership, which has been missing from the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister."
At the Labour Party conference that same year, Streeting warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to deliver accountability represented a threat to the international system itself.
"That has to come with consequences because it's not only failing the people of Sri Lanka, it's not only failing the Tamil diaspora around the world who are seeking justice for their families and loved ones [...] It also strikes at the heart of the rules-based international system, which we have to uphold and defend if the UN is truly to mean something."
Streeting also criticised the British government’s relationship with Colombo.
Following a 2021 meeting between then Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris, Streeting wrote publicly:
“It is simply appalling that there is no mention of human rights here.”
“The Government of Sri Lanka flouted commitments made in UK-led UNHRC resolutions and presides over ongoing human rights abuses today.”
It is simply appalling that there is no mention of human rights here. The Government of Sri Lanka flouted commitments made in UK-led UNHRC resolutions and presides over ongoing human rights abuses today. Has our Government abandoned its commitment to this issue? https://t.co/UrHrjDIpli
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) October 27, 2021
Again in 2024, Streeting said his party would “continue to campaign for this government to impose Magnitsky style sanctions on those who are accused of war crimes”.
Defending Tamil journalism and refugee protections
Streeting also intervened on issues concerning Tamil journalism and Tamil refugees in Britain.
When the Tamil Guardian faced censorship by Meta on Instagram in 2021, Streeting publicly condemned the move as “unacceptable”.
He also repeatedly raised concerns regarding the treatment of Tamil asylum seekers and refugees in Britain.
In 2020, during an event to celebrate the Tamil festival of Thai Pongal, he argued that Tamils who had sought refuge in Britain should not live in fear of deportation.
He said:
"As well as holding the government of Sri Lanka to account, our government also needs to make sure that particularly in terms of the treatment of refugees in this country, that people who have made the UK their home can call it a permanent home and are granted the refugee status to which they are entitled and don’t have to fear for their own future."
"As an All Party Parliamentary Group one of our genuine successes is working in a cross party way, so whether we have a Labour government or a Conservative government we can still deliver. And that’s what we plan to do… We’ll make sure this is high not just on parliament’s agenda or even on our government’s agenda, but that it remains high on the international community’s agenda."