November 6th, 2013
PREFACE
The report of the Panel of Experts appointed by U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. Internal Review Report (‘Charles Petrie Report’),
and the findings of the Dublin People’s Tribunal all establish that the
Government of Sri Lanka committed War Crimes, Crimes against
Humanity and an act of Genocide during the final stages of the armed
conflict in 2009 based on the evidence presented. These “unimaginable
atrocities” were neither an isolated incident nor a response to ‘terrorist’
problem. This was a progression of persecution on account of
nationality/ethnicity.
In 1974 when the Commonwealth Conference took place in Sri Lanka,
the President of the Tamil United Liberation Front, the late Mr. S.J.V.
Chelvanayagam QC, presented a Memorandum to the delegates of the
Commonwealth Conference narrating the racial discrimination against
and persecution of Tamils. The submission concluded as follows: It is
our hope that the problems of the Tamils of Ceylon will receive the
sympathetic consideration of the delegates assembled at this
Conference and that they will use their good offices to help the
resolution of the problem. A copy of the entire Memorandum is attached
herewith as an appendix. At the time of the Conference, 42 Tamil
political prisoners went on a fast to get the attention of the
Commonwealth delegations. These efforts were in vain. The
Commonwealth - which is committed to ending racial oppression turned a blind eye in 1974.
Since then, the Government of Sri Lanka has continued to violate the
human rights of Tamils systematically and pervasively on account of
their ethnicity. The UN Human Rights Commissioner, Madame Navi
Pillai’s recent observations, the US State Department Report and the
reports of international NGOs all affirm that human rights violations, in
particular ethnic-based violations, are escalating in the island of Sri
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