GENEVA – Five main Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka have sent a joint letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, ahead of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Session which gets underway on Monday (13), highlighting the developments in Tamil areas since the last UNHRC Session six months ago.
High Commissioner will be presenting her Oral Report about Sri Lanka at the opening session on Monday.
“During the last six months, there was continued impunity for violations committed during the war that ended twelve years ago and the government ignored repeated UN Human Rights Council Resolutions calling for justice and accountability. Tamil victim groups, human rights defenders, civil society leaders, journalists and others were increasingly intimidated and harassed by Sri Lankan authorities”, the letter said.
“Under the guise of “development projects,” government-driven Sinhalese – Buddhist colonization (settlements) is growing in traditionally Tamil areas with the intent to change the demography and deny Tamil people access to their lands,” it added.
The letter addresses in detail land grabs in Tamil areas, prevention for remembering the War Dead, the disappearance of thousands including babies and children, peaceful protest leaders harassed and intimidated and other issues Tamil people face in Sri Lanka.
The letter is signed by MPs Justice C.V. Wickneswaran – Secretary-General -TPA; Selvam Adaikalanathan – President – TELO Dharmalingam Sithadthan -President- DPLF; G. Karunakaram -Secretary General-TELO; S. Noharathalingam and former MPs K. Premachandran – President – EPRLF and N. Srikantha – TNP
– Geneva News Service