TGTE urges Ban-Ki-Moon to censure Sri Lanka for refusal to grant visas to UN Investigators

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) urged UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon to strongly object to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapake’s refusal to grant visas for UN’s Office of the High- Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Investigation on Sri Lanka’s (OISL) on international criminal law, human rights, and humanitarian laws violations.

It is time for the UN Secretary General to publicly censure the Sri Lankan government for denying direct access for the victims of international crimes in the island of Sri Lanka to OISL investigators. As the UN Internal Review Panel Report demonstrates, quiet diplomacy or appeasement does not work with the Sri Lankan government, which is not susceptible to reason. Thus it is time for robust public diplomacy. We urge the Secretary General to use his office as a moral pulpit to galvanize international opinion against the obstinacy of the Sri Lankan government.

While the Sri Lankan President is denying UN access, he is still scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on September 25th. Given the blatant disregard to the UN Human Rights Council, it is an affront to permit him to address the UN General Assembly, which in fact created the Human Rights Council.

Thus we urge the President of the UN General Assembly to withdraw his invitation to address the UN General Assembly.

TGTE also urges UN Member states to take note of this transgression and raise it in the appropriate forums to safeguard the credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is organizing a protest rally outside the UN in New York on September 25th to condemn Sri Lankan President’s actions.

We also note news of the rapes of very young girls by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel. Even handedness requires UN condemnation of such violation of human rights. The TGTE keenly monitors such events and is aware of the names of the alleged perpetrators and the chain of command involved. We request the Secretary General to condemn violations of human rights that takes place in Sri Lanka, not only against the Tamils but the Muslims and Christian minorities as well.

The Sri Lankan government forces have been accused of mass killing of Tamils in the final stages of the war, which ended in May 2009. Such killings continue. The government troops are in occupation of the NorthEast of Sri Lanka, inducing fear in the inhabitants. This is a violation of the norms of international law. The actions of the Government of Sri Lanka amount to a continuous genocide of the Tamil people. The United Nations has a duty under its Charter to bring this genocide to an end.

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