UNHCR Commissioner Volker Türk highlights need for reconciliation between Sinhalese and Tamils
The letter was signed by representatives of various Tamil political parties such as the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), All Ceylon Tamil Congress, Tamil National People's Front, Democratic Tamil National Alliance, and various civil organisations, News Wire reported.
The joint letter noted that the UN Human Rights Chief's visit comes against the backdrop of 16 years since the end of the deadly Sri Lankan civil war, pointing out that no significant progress had been made regarding the war crimes by the Sri Lankan Army during the four-decade-long war.
'We are concerned that your visit will be used and is being used by the Government of Sri Lanka as an exercise in boosting their legitimacy and to weaken the resolve of your office and that of the UN Human Rights Council to take concrete steps towards ensuring accountability in Sri Lanka,' it said.
The joint letter further called on the UN Human Rights Chief to consider the recommendations that had been jointly presented by Tamil political parties and civil organisations in 2021 to the heads of missions of the 47 states represented in the UN Human Rights Council on ensuring accountability.
The war, which lasted from 1984-2009, resulted from ethnic tensions between the country's majority Sinhala community and its long-standing discrimination of its Tamil minority.
While the civil war ended in the defeat of the LTTE separatists, discrimination against the Tamils at a social and political level, though lessened, remains ongoing, with Tamil groups repeatedly approaching the UN to demand accountability for the many crimes committed by the army.
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