Australian Tamils commemorate Tamil Genocide Day

On 18 May 2020, eleven years since the Sri Lankan state’s genocide against the Tamil nation reached its peak, the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) joins millions globally in commemorating the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil nation. 
 
UN reports and human rights organisations have accused Sri Lanka of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Tamil community. To date no independent investigation has taken place; nor have any perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes been brought to justice.  

The ATC believes the only credible path to achieve criminal accountability and justice for mass atrocity crimes committed against the Tamil people, including for over 146,679 Tamil people unaccounted for during the final stages of the war in the Vanni region, is through an international criminal mechanism such as an international criminal tribunal on Sri Lanka.

“Today we mourn over 70 years of oppression and annihilation of our brethren at the hands of the Sri Lankan state, its security forces and its ultra-nationalist Sinhala Buddhist led mobs. Sri Lanka's continuing state oppression and persecution of the Tamil people and its persisting military occupation of the Tamil homeland only further justifies the Tamil nation’s struggle for self-determination,” said ATC Chairperson, Mr Manokaran. “In addition to being a day to mourn and reflect, the commemoration of Tamil Genocide Day should be a powerful platform of hope for the survivors and victims that the international community is committed to achieving accountability and justice,” he added. 

This year the annual remembrance event will be held as a virtual worldwide gathering on the 18 May 2020.