GTF's Father Emmanuel calls on Sydney Archbishop to press for international inquiry

30 January 2014Continuing the campaign to increase support for an UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka that calls for an international inquiry, Father S. J. Emmanuel of the Global Tamil Forum called on an old friend in Australia last week, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell. Old friends from previous years in Rome, Father Emmanuel told the Australian Archbishop of the massacres that took place in 2009 at the end of the armed conflict, and the militarisation, colonisation and violence that continues to take place today in the Tamil area of the North-East. Stressing that there would be no accountability through an internal process, Father Emmanuel explained that the Tamil people had no faith in the Sri Lankan state and were seeking an UNHRC resolution calling for an international inquiry would do. He said that GTF remained hopeful that Australia would co-sponsor any such resolution, as it had done with the previous two. Drawing attention to Australia's notorious treatment of asylum seekers, including the numerous Tamil detainees who are being held indefinitely, the GTF's president appealed to his fellow clergyman to push the Australian government to act more humanely and provide those persecuted with a place of sanctuary.