Vatican commission denounces Tamil genocide
30 October 2013
30 October 2013
The Vatican’s ‘Justitia-et-Pax’ (Justice and Peace) commission in the Jaffna diocese has denounced the genocide against the Tamil people and called on The Holy See to exert political pressure on the government of Sri Lanka.
"A genocide of the Tamil people is in progress in Sri Lanka" said a complaint by the commission’s president Father Mangalarajah to the Apostolic Nunciature, the Vatican’s embassy, in Sri Lanka.
The Vatican’s news agency, Agenzia Fides, reported that it had received a letter from the Father, noting some “basic, unresolved issues” for Tamils.
The letter highlighted the lack of transparency and accountability for human rights violations, calling for justice "for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians", and demanded an international investigation into missing people and the use of cluster bombs and chemical weapons.
It also criticised the confiscation of Tamil lands, saying that 90% of the occupied territories during the war have not yet been returned to its rightful owners, including the Catholic Church, which lost three parishes with churches, chapels and schools.
The letter denounced the government sponsored "ethnic, cultural and religious colonisation" by Singhalese settlers and detailed “coercive population control” in the Tamil population. The plight of thousands of Tamil political detainees, languishing in state prisons, was also highlighted.
The vulnerability of Tamil women and girls was also highlighted, saying that families with girls lived in constant fear and that there are many cases of sexual abuse by the military. In areas vacated by the army, human remains and graves are found, which could be people that were disappeared.
