Northern PC adopts resolution calling for intl. probe

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Northern Provincial Council yesterday adopted a resolution calling for an international investigation into alleged acts of genocide committed against the Tamils during the war. Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswara

n presented an amended version of the resolution calling for an international inquiry on genocide against Tamils committed by successive governments since the country’s independence from the British in 1948. The resolution notes that the obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law. In the resolution, the NPC has urged the team appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the war in Sri Lanka, to comprehensively investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015. “During the war, Government military forces engaged in deliberate aerial, artillery and naval bombardment of civilian areas and also used prohibited weapons and ammunitions such as cluster bombs. According to UN estimates, 60-100,000 Tamil civilians were killed over the course of the 27-year-long war. The large scale and severe nature of the genocide also forced many Tamils to flee the North East provinces and seek refuge in Tamil Nadu and Western countries,” the resolution stated. The resolution described that the case of genocide in Sri Lanka is unique among genocides in history because it occurred over several decades and under different governments before intensifying into a “no-holds-barred war” for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass atrocities of 2009. “It is accordingly vital that Sri Lanka’s historic violations against Tamils, in addition to the 2009 attacks, are addressed through an international mechanism in order to combat Sri Lanka’s institutionalised impunity,” it said. The resolution has further noted that the UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide adding that alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes.

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