May 16, 2022
For Immediate Release
Markham, Canada – On May 16, 2022, Tamil Rights Group (TRG) wrote to the President of the United States, the Honourable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., requesting urgent US assistance to facilitate a permanent political resolution to the national problems of sri Lanka.
The people of Sri Lanka are facing a catastrophic situation, amongst repeated declarations of a State of Emergency and rapidly escalating violence that is being unleashed on innocent civilians who are conducting peaceful protests to highlight grave sufferings experienced under the deep crisis afflicting the country. While the problems faced by Sri Lanka are deep rooted and challenging, there is an opportunity now to find a lasting solution, with a permanent political resolution to end the ethnic conflict and put a united country on an effective road to recovery.
For Sri Lanka is to come out of the abyss that the successive governments have led it into, meaningful and long-lasting changes are required to undertake reform and implement a permanent pollical resolution. Any proposed resolution should be built on fundamental principles that, amongst others, should address the legitimate grievances of the Tamils through a power-sharing arrangement that will enable self-determination for the Tamils and allow them to live with peace and security in their traditional homeland areas in the North and East to fulfill the aspirations tied to their own future.
It is also vitally important that transitional justice and accountability is advanced with the support of the US and through the auspices of international bodies, to ensure that perpetrators of heinous crimes can be brought to justice and the country can move forward through healing. The culture of impunity that has been rampant in Sri Lanka should be ended and safeguards should ensure that atrocities never happen again.
TRG also appealed for the formation of a task force through the US Department of Justice to pursue the perpetrators in Sri Lanka who have committed atrocity crimes and other serious financial crimes in Sri Lanka. It is highlighted that there are credible allegations against the President and other senior officials in Sri Lanka and that the President himself is/or was a citizen of the United States. In addition, TRG also urged for an international investigation facilitated by influential state actors including by the U.S. State Department to address the atrocity crimes and human rights violations committed in Sri Lanka, to end the impunity and bring perpetrators to justice to facilitate transitional justice and accountability in Sri Lanka.
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