While a representative of the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances in the North and the East will not be participating in the ongoing 52nd United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session, a report will be submitted to the council highlighting that justice should be delivered to their longstanding issues via the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Speaking to The Daily Morning, President of the association Yogarasa Kanagaranjini said: “We have surrendered our loved ones and are eyewitnesses to such events. The Government has failed to inform us, the relatives of the missing persons, of the whereabouts of our loved ones, even though it is their responsibility. Those who are alive should be released and the Government should tell us what happened to those who are no longer alive. Therefore, we have now decided to reach the ICC to achieve justice for our longstanding issues. A long-lasting political solution should also be achieved for our future generations to live peacefully in this country.”
The said report – based on five demands, including the release of Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act prisoners, resettlement in ancestral lands and demilitarisation of the particular regions – is to be forwarded by Secretary of the association Leeladevi Ananthanadarajah.
“This cannot be achieved by only us as the support of the Member Countries of the UNHRC is needed. Some of those who have allegations against them are representatives of the Government here. Therefore, we believe that only the ICC can resolve our issues. We began our struggle separately in 2017. Since the 36th UNHRC session, we have been bringing our issues to the attention of the council. Everyone listens to our grievances, sympathises with our situation and sheds tears, but, we are yet to see a response from them to help us achieve justice. No one is coming forward to deliver justice for our grievances. Our expectation is still there – that the international community would deliver justice to our long-standing issues, but we are unsure of the timeframe as to when we would be given justice. Therefore, we would like to say that even if this has been dragging, we have no other option but to proceed to the next step,” she added.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Eelam Thamilar Suyatchi Kazhagam (Eelam Tamils Self-Rule Party) and former Northern Provincial Minister of Women’s Affairs Ananthy Sasitharan, who has been part of the struggle, trying to find the whereabouts of her husband Sinnathurai Sasitharan alias Ezhilan, also noted that she would urge at the UNHRC session that justice via the ICC is required as other options have failed over the years. Elsewhere, the Vavuniya High Court issued an order on 23 February to produce Ezhilan and another two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam members who surrendered to the Government’s security forces in 2009, on 22 March.
On 20 February, while marking the sixth anniversary of the struggle of the relatives of missing persons, on the 2,190th day, a massive protest involving more than 100 relatives was held in Kilinochchi, during which, Kanagaranjani urged the international community to identify those responsible for the enforced disappearances of their loved ones by producing them before the ICC.
