"Percentages, numbers, patterns, intent - these are critically important to reach the determination of genocide" - Secretary Blinken

TORONTO, CANADA, March 29, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ --

US Secretary of State Blinken designated the crimes committed against the Rohingya people by the Myanmar military as genocide on March 21, 2022. “The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) welcomes this designation. We, the Eelam Tamil people who are also subjected to genocide and who are longing for justice hold the hands of the Rohingya people in solidarity and congratulate them for this measure of justice,” stated the TGTE’s Minister for Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, Mr. Roy Wignarajah.

Canada, France, Turkey, and other countries have already declared that the crimes committed against Rohingya people was an act of genocide.

The State Departments' declarations of the Uyghur’s Genocide on Jan 20, 2021, and Armenian Genocide on April 24, 2021, are testimony to the US administration’s unwavering commitment in upholding human rights, and holding to account the states and individuals, that commit Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes under the pretext of “fighting terrorism” and/or safeguarding territorial integrity. The Myanmar Junta justified its actions by stating that they were “legitimate counter-terrorism operations.”

While designating the Rohingya genocide, the Secretary of State stated: “Percentages, numbers, patterns, intent - these are critically important to reach the determination of genocide,” We, the Eelam Tamils who have. according to the UN. lost more than 40,000 – 70,000 of our brethren during the final stages of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009 at the hands of the Sri Lankan military took careful note of the Secretary’s statement on the elements which went into reaching such a designation.

In his speech declaring the killing, rape and displacement of Rohingya a genocide, the secretary of state mentioned about the suffering of the people of Ukraine and also stated that many diplomats around the world say: “yes, we stand with the people of Ukraine. But we must also stand with people suffering atrocities in other places.” The Secretary of State’s comment removes the fear that the suffering of the Ukrainian people might eclipse atrocities committed against other peoples in many parts of the world. The statement is reassurance that the continuing impunity being enjoyed by the Sri Lankan state for the genocide committed against the Tamil people, which has emboldened it to continue to engage in systematic and pervasive persecution of the Tamils with the intent to destroy the Tamil identity in the island of Sri Lanka, will not go unpunished.

The Secretary of State also stated that the US would contribute nearly 1 million dollars in new funding for a United Nations investigative body that is gathering evidence for possible future prosecutions against perpetrators of the violence in Myanmar. The TGTE urges the Secretary of State to provide similar funding to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights which is tasked to collect evidence to the international crimes committed during the final stages of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, pursuant to 2021’s Human Rights Council Resolution 46/1. We also request the Secretary of State to release all the evidence, including intercepted telecommunications between the Sri Lankan political and military leaders and satellite photographs, etc., in their possession to the victims and victims’ advocates to advance accountability for the Tamils.

We congratulate civil society, notably The Public International Law & Policy Group, which has since 2018 advocated for accountability and argued that there is a legal basis to conclude that the crimes committed against Rohingya people constitute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Ministry for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities
For more information, please contact: Roy Wignarajah: 416-457-1633

ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.

TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.

TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 135 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.

TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.

TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account. TGTE calls for a referendum to decide the political future of Tamils.

The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.

Email: pmo@tgte.org
Web: www.tgte-us.org
Twitter: @TGTE_PMO

BACKGROUND

Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka faced repeated mass killings in 1958, 1977, and 1983 and the mass killings in 2009 prompted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to report on the scale of the killings.

According to UN internal review report on Sri Lanka, over 70 thousand Tamils were killed in six months in early 2009 and Tamil women were sexually assaulted and raped by the Sri Lankan Security forces.

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”. Also, according to UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report on April 2013, there are over 90 thousand Tamil war widows in Sri Lanka.

Thousands of Tamils disappeared, including babies and children. UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances stated in 2020 that the second highest number of enforced disappearance cases in the world is from Sri Lanka.

According to this UN report, the killings and other abuses that took place amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Independent experts believe that there are elements of these abuses that constitute an act of genocide.

Members of the Sri Lankan security forces are almost exclusively from the Sinhalese community and the victims are all from the Tamil community.

Tamils overwhelmingly voted in a Parliamentary election in 1977 to establish an independent and sovereign country called Tamil Eelam. This Parliamentary election was conducted by the Sri Lankan Government.

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam
TGTE
+1 416-457-1633
pgmaministry@gmail.com
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