June 26, Colombo (LNW): A collective of Tamil political parties and civil society organisations in Sri Lanka have made a fresh appeal to the United Nations, urging a principled and results-oriented international response to long-standing grievances over wartime accountability and post-war reconciliation.
The call was made through a jointly signed letter handed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, during his visit to the island’s Northern Province on Wednesday.
The letter, endorsed by key Tamil political formations—including the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), All Ceylon Tamil Congress, Tamil National People’s Front, and Democratic Tamil National Alliance—expressed deep frustration over the absence of meaningful progress on justice for victims of the country’s brutal civil war, which officially ended in 2009. Civil organisations representing war-affected communities also lent their support to the appeal.
In their communication, the Tamil representatives voiced concern that the Sri Lankan government may attempt to exploit the UN official’s visit as a means of burnishing its international image, rather than engaging in substantive reform.
“There is a very real fear that your presence will be used to lend legitimacy to a government that has repeatedly evaded its responsibility to deliver justice,” the letter stated, urging Mr Türk not to allow his engagement to be manipulated into a mere symbolic gesture.
This visit marks the first time in nine years that a sitting UN human rights chief has set foot in Sri Lanka, the last being Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in 2016. Mr Türk is in the country for a three-day visit, during which he is expected to meet government officials, civil society representatives, and victims’ families.
Since the end of the civil conflict in May 2009, Sri Lanka’s efforts to address war-era human rights violations have been consistently scrutinised by the international community. Despite a number of promises made in the years following the war’s conclusion, Tamil groups argue that little has been achieved in practice, particularly with respect to criminal accountability and institutional reform.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has, since 2012, passed four separate resolutions urging Sri Lanka to ensure justice for grave human rights violations committed by both state forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). These resolutions have included calls for the establishment of a credible, internationally supervised judicial process to investigate and prosecute those responsible for wartime abuses.
International engagement with Sri Lanka’s post-war legacy was first heightened following the 2009 visit of then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, just days after the armed conflict concluded with the military defeat of the LTTE. His visit set in motion a decade and a half of diplomatic pressure, much of which remains unresolved.
With Mr Türk’s arrival renewing global focus on the country’s human rights record, Tamil leaders say there is now an opportunity—but also a risk. “Our communities have waited too long for truth and justice,” the letter noted. “We hope this visit marks not another missed opportunity, but a renewed commitment by the international system to ensure Sri Lanka does not escape accountability once again.”
