"Vehicle Rally will be From Toronto and Montreal to the Parliament Hill in Ottawa"

TORONTO, CANADA , February 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ --

Members of the Canadian Tamil Civil Society have organized a vehicle rally from Toronto and Montreal to the Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Wednesday February 17th to urge the Government of Canada to Refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide Committed Against Tamil People by the Sri Lankan State.

Canada as a member of the Core - Group on Sri Lanka is currently involved in the drafting of the Resolution for the upcoming UN Human Rights Council Session.

"If Canada wants it can Refer Sri Lanka to International Criminal Court (ICC)" said one of the organizers.

"We will know whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Administration is taking Tamil's unified request seriously"

Recently, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in her Report dated 12th January 2021 urged UN Human Rights Council Member States to take steps toward the referral of the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Tamil's in Sri Lanka and in the Diaspora have unitedly call for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

HISTORY OF FALSE PROMISES BY THE SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST THE TAMIL PEOPLE

1) Successive Sri Lankan Governments have failed to implement any of the UNHRC Resolutions, including the ones they voluntarily co-sponsored.

2) Previous Government not only failed to take any meaningful steps to implement the Resolution that it co-sponsored, on the contrary the President, Prime Minister and senior members of the Government have repeatedly and categorically stated that they will not implement the UNHRC Resolution.

3) The current new Government went one step further and officially withdrew from the co-sponsorship of the Resolutions 30/1, 34/1 and 40/1 and walked away from UNHRC accountability process.

4) Furthermore, as a snub to UNHRC, only soldier who was ever punished and sentenced to death for killing civilians including children was pardoned by the current President.

5) Also, several senior military officials who were credibly accused of committing war crimes have been given promotions and treated as “war heroes.” One officer who was named in UN reports as a suspected war criminal was promoted as a four-star General.

BACKGROUND ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMES COMMITTED IN SRI LANKA:

1) According to the November 2012 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on UN Action in Sri Lanka, over 70,000 people were killed during the last six months of the war that ended in May 2009.

2) Several were killed when Sri Lankan forces repeatedly bombed and shelled an area designated by the Government as No Fire Zones (Safe zones). Even hospitals and food distribution centers were bombed. Several also died of starvation and bled to death due to lack of medical treatment.

3) International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) in February 2017 handed over details to UN of Sri Lankan Military run "Rape Camps", where Tamil women are being held as “sex slaves.”

4) According to UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on April 2013, there are over 90,000 Tamil war widows in Sri Lanka.

5) Thousands of Tamils disappeared including babies and children. UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances stated that the second highest number of enforced disappearance cases in the world is from Sri Lanka.

Canadian Tamil Civil Society
CTCS
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