Tamils

Human Rights Action Group is working in collaboration with these non-profit organizations to seek justice for the atrocity crimes including genocide and human rights violations that continue to be committed against the Tamils in Sri Lanka. We continue to seek an end to these continuing violations through various legal initiatives. 

Human Rights Action Group co-founder David Matas was also a co-founder of International Tamil Refugee Assistance Network, and now serves as their honorary legal counsel. Human Rights Action Group co-founder Sarah Teich is a director of International Tamil Refugee Assistance Network. Both Matas and Teich are legal advisors to Tamil Rights Group.

These organizations work on both accountability for past crimes and the combatting of ongoing crimes, such as the continued militarization of the north and east of the country, continued land grabbing, and continued white van abductions.

Accountability for past crimes is also important for combatting future crimes, and this is of particular concern in Sri Lanka, where decades of impunity are now followed by democratic backsliding and the shrinking of civic spaces.

Human Rights Action Group is working with these community organizations to pursue various legal remedies to seek justice and accountability for the crimes committed against Tamils.

In November 2021, we submitted a communication under Article 15 of the Rome Statute to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), requesting a preliminary examination into crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution committed against Eelam Tamils within the territories of state parties to the ICC.

There is mounting evidence that the Eelam Tamil population in Sri Lanka was subject to atrocities that amounted to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, particularly in the final stages of the protracted civil war that ended in 2009. Recognising that the ongoing actions of the Sri Lankan state have proven its unwillingness to investigate and prosecute such crimes within domestic judicial institutions, the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, in January 2021, called for member states to become involved in working to end the impunity surrounding the Sri Lankan armed conflict, both by utilising the principle of universal jurisdiction to initiate prosecutions in foreign domestic courts, and by taking steps toward seeking justice at the international level, including at the ICC.

While Sri Lanka is not a state party to the Rome Statute, there is compelling evidence that various actors, including members of the Sri Lankan government and armed forces, committed the crimes against humanity of persecution and deportation through coercive acts, and that part of the actus reus of these crimes occurred on the territories of state parties, including Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Communication contends that, on the basis of the precedent set by the Myanmar/Bangladesh case, the Court should have jurisdiction to investigate the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution committed by Sri Lankan officials.

The Communication can be found online here.