Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Article 1 of ICCPR a necessity to address systemic violations against Tamils – BTF

09 October 2014
Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) must be acknowledged to address the systemic violation of Tamils in the North-East said the British Tamil Forum commenting on its involvement in the review of Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Committee.

“The collective human security of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka rests on providing them with an opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination under the ICCPR’s Article 1. The failure to address Article 1 during the state review process is significant. The Human Rights Committee needs to do more than just acknowledge the incidences of these violations and point out the need for addressing the structural factors that lead to such systemic violations,” said the BTF in a press release from Geneva.

“The main focus of the 27th session in September for our delegation was to liaise with Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) on evidence gathering & supplying, as well as to find solutions to overcome problems caused by Sri Lanka’s non-cooperation to the investigation, as well as to discuss with Missions regarding further actions against Sri Lanka,” added the statement.

Commenting on the importance to use all avenues in the UN to pressure Sri Lanka, the BTF human rights co-ordinator, Sowjeya Joseph, said,

“While the OISL investigation is present and the efforts to facilitate submissions are ongoing, however, it is of utmost importance, in a time where the Sri Lankan State is under extreme pressure and is in the focal point of the international community, to engage with all possible UN Human Rights mechanisms in order to force the Sri Lankan State to comply with human rights and to establish the case of violation of collective rights.”

Speaking to Tamil Guardian after the Human Rights Committee review of Sri Lanka in Geneva, Joseph, added,

“Following the review of Sri Lanka, we were happy to notice that the expert committee confronted the state with critical questions and positively included information provided by all NGOs into consideration. AS an outcome we expect strong recommendations regarding the implementation of the ICCPR, which is one of the most important human rights treaties, and are hopeful that these will be positively acknowledged by other UN bodies in the process of holding perpetrators of mass atrocities in Sri Lanka accountable.”