Illustration by Keera Ratnam / wavesofcolour
Current weeks have seen a number of senior politicians from the 2 main opposition events within the UK, reiterate the significance of making certain Sri Lanka is referred to the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC). Keir Starmer, the person broadly tipped to change into Britain’s subsequent prime minister, referred to as on the ruling authorities to push via a referral two years in the past. Assist for such a transfer has since grown. As Starmer launched an announcement to commemorate the Tamil Genocide, Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats dedicated his occasion to sending Sri Lanka to the ICC, “so in the end there could be accountability for the genocide dedicated towards Tamil folks”. Regardless of who occupies Downing Road subsequent month, steps have to be undertaken to make sure the state of affairs in Sri Lanka is swiftly despatched to The Hague. Justice for atrocities should lastly be delivered.
The ICC is the world’s highest authorized physique that investigates and prosecutes the gravest of crimes. The atrocities inflicted on the Tamils, which have left greater than 160,000 folks nonetheless unaccounted for, greater than meet the edge to demand worldwide consideration. As is being more and more recognised, it was a genocide. However the full failure of Sri Lanka’s home accountability mechanisms to carry perpetrators to account, alongside the continued unwillingness of repeated Sri Lankan governments to take action, implies that solely a world course of offers any glimmer of hope that justice might be served. All avenues have been exhausted and the ICC is the court docket of final resort. For many years now, Tamil victim-survivors have demanded an pressing referral.
That decision was heard not simply on the island. In 2019, over 17,500 Brits signed a petition demanding Sri Lanka be referred to the ICC, prompting an official authorities response. On the time, the UK limply requested that religion be saved within the UN Human Rights Council course of. However an additional 5 years on from that British reply, there was no progress. Although extra resolutions are slated to be launched in Geneva this yr, after greater than a decade of comparable strikes it has change into clear to all that the Human Rights Council is toothless. Sri Lanka continues to disclaim {that a} genocide passed off, while perpetrators together with rapists and murderers, nonetheless roam free. Certainly, these accused of main the genocide might even run for workplace once more this yr. The UN Human Rights Council course of has fallen flat.
That is evident even to UN Human Rights chiefs, who’ve referred to as on member states to think about referring Sri Lanka to the ICC. Although Sri Lanka is technically not occasion to the Rome Statute, a referral shouldn’t be not possible. There are different modern avenues that may be explored, akin to how the case of Myanmar was delivered to the court docket, for instance. Sri Lanka may be raised on the UN Safety Council in New York. Even when it fails at this stage, via a Russian or Chinese language veto, the truth that 15 years on from the genocide the atrocities are nonetheless being mentioned on the world’s highest physique would ship a robust message to Sri Lankans and past on the significance of accountability and justice. The massacres can not, and shouldn’t, be allowed to be merely forgotten.
For all its flaws, the ICC remains to be a robust physique. Because the latest request for arrest warrants on Israeli and Palestinian leaders reveals, their selections have a major impression around the globe. However, on the identical time, there additionally must be motion past the court docket. A referral alone is not going to result in the progress that the island desperately wants. There have to be sanctions and journey bans on accused conflict criminals. States that worth human rights and transparency should re-evaluate the bilateral commerce and army ties they maintain with Colombo. And there have to be a concerted effort to make sure Tamil folks can train their proper to self-determination and a long-lasting peaceable resolution is lastly discovered. Solely then can the abuses and violence that proceed to plague the island be halted. It have to be a precedence for the subsequent British prime minister, regardless of which occasion they arrive from.
