Press release for immediate use.
The European Parliament’s positions regarding the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council were voted on today, 16 February. The Parliament calls on the UNHCR to establish a war crimes investigation into Sri Lanka.
Significantly an amendment put forward to welcome the LLRC findings was defeated in the parliament. This represents a major blow to the Sri Lankan government. The government went to enormous lengths to get support for this amendment. This included enlisting a Tamil National Alliance MP who recently spoke publicly in support of the LLRC – a failed attempt by the government to prove that it is capable of any real investigation into the war.
A Tamil Solidarity spokesperson commented: “The outcome is a success although we would prefer a much stronger stand was taken to punish a regime that is responsible for heinous crimes. The voting pattern for this crucial vote reveals and further clarifies the situation in terms of who the Tamil community can trust and who they can work with.”
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Further reports will be published on www.tamilsolidarity.org shortly.
Contact TU Senan on 0790 80 50 217 or senan@tamilsolidarity.org for further information.