Peace for the World World ! Your War Our Lives
The Dalai Lama
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
‘Our lives are in your hands’, families of the disappeared tell the UN
13 March 2019
Families of the disappeared appealed to members of the United Nations
not to grant Sri Lanka any extension on implementing a resolution it had
agreed to in 2015 and instead called for an international
accountability mechanism, telling member states that “our lives are in
your hands”.
A 2015 UN resolution mandated an accountability mechanism with
international judges to examine violations of international humanitarian
law, but leaders in Colombo have repeatedly spoken out against it.
Speaking to the Tamil Guardian, a protestor from Mullaitivu who has been
searching for their disappeared relative said, “We have been informed
that the Sri Lankan government will be given another two-year
extension”.
“We, the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, request that this extension should not be given.”
“We, the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, request that this extension should not be given.”
Relatives of the disappeared have been protesting on the streets across
the North-East for more than two years, demanding answers to the
whereabouts of their loved ones. The protests, led largely by Tamil
women, have been widespread and drawn support from across the globe.
Yet, the Sri Lankan government has done little to provide these women
with the information they demand.
“We have been searching for our forcibly disappeared for the last two
years but have not got any answers,” said the protestor. “The search now
extends into the third year.”
Several of the protestors have died during the course of the protests,
which have seen women holding rallies and marches, as well as continuous
roadside demonstrations. Just last month, the toll of protestors who
have died continued to increase as Saraswathy Velu, from Mankulam in
Mullaitivu, passed away. She last saw her daughter, Parvathi, in
Mullivaikkal in 2009 before she was forcibly disappeared and had been
searching for her since.
“Our lives are in your hands,” said the protestor, in a direct appeal to member states at the United Nations.
“The international community should not support this. We are expressing
our voices with a belief in you. Instead of closing their eyes in
support of the Sri Lankan government, the international community should
work to bring back our relatives.”
“The extension you are giving to the Sri Lankan government will bring
the expectations of all Tamil people to an end,” she added.
She also pointed out that presidential elections will be held by the
time any new resolution will come up for renewal, if an extension is
granted. “It will be dragged on for another ten years,” the protestor
lamented.
“Bring the offenders before justice and bring us a solution. We are asking for our children.”
