Global Tamil diaspora organizations, representing over one million Tamil people who fled the island due to the atrocious crimes committed by Sri Lanka against the Tamil people, request their respective governments to publicly place a ban on the Sri Lankan war criminals against whom credible evidence has been recorded by UNHRC.
See the full statement which was released on the 26th of January below:
Request to Publicly Ban Sri Lankan War Criminals
A campaign against the perpetrators of atrocity crimes in Sri Lanka
The undersigned global Tamil diaspora organizations, representing over one million Tamil people who fled the island due to the atrocity crimes committed by Sri Lanka against the Tamil people, request our respective governments to publicly place a ban on the Sri Lankan war criminals against whom credible evidence has been recorded by UNHRC.
The Sri Lankan Government is now headed by President Gotabaya Rajapakse and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, both of whom are credibly accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed against the Tamil people on the island of Sri Lanka.
They were both elected to power based on their virulent anti-Tamil rhetoric and promise to protect the soldiers who committed atrocity crimes under their command responsibility from any investigation. This is the case with every Sri Lankan government which comes to power.
The current government, since assuming office, has been appointing former senior military personnel to top government positions and diplomatic postings abroad by taking advantage of the diplomatic immunity. Tamil People in the diaspora have lost their family members and friends due to these systematic acts of genocide under successive Sri Lankan governments.
Many of the victim’s relatives fled the island are now citizens of their host countries. They are working extremely hard to overcome the trauma caused by the systematic acts of genocide and seek remedial justice to the victims Some countries, including Brazil, Canada, United States of America (U.S.A), United Kingdom (UK) and in Europe have already rejected some identified Sri Lankan war criminals credibly accused of atrocity crimes from entering or expelling them from the respective countries.
Recently the State Department of the U.S.A publicly banned two Sri Lankan army officers and their family’s entry into the USA. Similarly, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020 issued a statement designating Shavendra Silva, current Chief of Defense Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, ineligible for entry into the USA, due to his involvement in the extrajudicial killings and gross violations of human rights citing serious and credible evidence.
We therefore strongly request our respective governments to publicly ban the persons in the list of perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes as credibly accused in the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Investigations on Sri Lanka (OISL). This list is presented below as per the doctrine of command responsibility of the perpetrators.
Mahinda Rajapaksa – Prime Minister, then President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Gotabaya Rajapaksa – President, then Defense Secretary
General Sarath Fonseka
Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva
Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage
Major General Kamal Gunaratne
Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe
Major General Nanda Mallawarachchi
Major General Jagath Dias
Major General Jagath Jayasuriya
Brigadier Prasanna Silva
Brigadier Nandana Udawatta
Brigadier Chagie Gallage
Colonel G.V. Ravipriya
Admiral Wasantha Kumar Jayadewa Karannagoda
Admiral Thisara S. G. Samarasinghe
Admiral Dissanayake Wijesinghe Arachchilage Somatilake Dissanayake
C.N.Wakishta
Further, making this list public would help the relevant authorities to place a targeted travel ban and asset freeze on these perpetrators and theirfamilies and allow any such persons already in the country to be tried under relevant and applicable judicial process including universal jurisdiction.
The Tamil victims of genocide in Sri Lanka deserve remedial justice and a resolution to the seven decades long unresolved Tamil national question. Shying away from the public ban of the Sri Lankan war criminals will allow Sri Lanka to continue its structural genocide of the Tamil people with impunity.
It is the moral responsibility of the respective governments to hold Sri Lanka accountable and guarantee non-recurrence as emphasized in the resolution 46/1 adopted at the 46th sessions of the UNHRC in March 2021.
For Contact details:
Australian Tamil Congress (ATC): +61300660629, mano_manics@hotmail.com
British Tamils Forum (BTF): +447814486087, info@britishtamilsforum.org
Irish Tamils Forum (ITF): 0035389959270, irishtamilsforum@gmail.com
Maison du Tamil Eelam (France): +33652725867, mte.france@gmail.com
National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT): +14168307703, info@ncctcanada.ca
Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice (SGPJ – South Africa): pregasenp@telkomsa.net
Swiss Tamil Action Group (STAG): +41764450642, swisstamilag@gmail.com
Tamil Movement Against Genocide (Mauritius): +230 5728 5505, tamilmagen0@gmail.com
United States Tamil Action Group (USTAG): +12025953123, info@theustag.or