Northern Provincial Council adopts 5 resolution re International Investigation,political solution and listing diaspora orgs

Northern Province   The Northern Provincial Council adopted five resolutions, at its 8th meeting. The five resolutions were proposed by the Council Member Hon M.K. Sivajilingam and adopted by the Northern Provincial Council  on April 28, 2014.

1.            Several tens of thousands of Tamil people were killed by the Sri Lankan forces during the war; several tens of thousands of Tamil people were disabled and injured; many thousands were kidnapped and disappeared, and the fate of those who surrendered to the military are not known as to whether they are dead or alive; this Council thanks the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Hon. Navanethem Pillay, for coming forward to conduct an independent international investigation into the crimes committed during the war.

2.This Council extends its special gratitude to the United States of America for bringing resolutions at the UNHRC in 2012 and 2013 calling for the investigation of crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka.

3.This Council extends its special gratitude to the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mauritius, and Montenegro for leading the resolution at the March 2014 session of the UNHRC calling for an international investigation.

1.We express our sincere gratitude and heartfelt appreciations to Argentina, Austria, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, Peru, Republic of Korea, Romania, Sierra Leone, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America for voting at the UNHRC to support the resolution led by countries including the UK and the USA.

2.We are also indebted to all those countries that voted to defeat the attempts to delay the resolution, and also to those countries that voted down the attempt to remove the section calling for the international investigation from the resolution.

3.Notwithstanding their abstentions during the voting on the main resolution, we thank Japan and the Philippines for voting against the attempt to delay the resolution.

4.We wish to convey our deep disappointment and anguish to those countries that voted in favour to delay the resolution, and also to those countries that voted against the call for an international investigation.

1.We respectfully request all 47 member countries of the UNHRC and all other countries of the world, to support the independent international investigation, which came about as a result of the UNHRC Resolution regarding the crimes against humanity perpetrated in Sri Lanka.

1.We request that arrangements are made to create a new constitution for Sri Lanka with the assistance from the International Community to resolve the Tamil national ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka recognizing self-determination of Tamil people, and offering, at the minimum, a federal setup for a sovereign Tamil nation constituting the merged Northern and Eastern provinces.

2.We wish to inform the International Community that the Tamil people have always been ready to find a political solution ever since the island of Sri Lanka got its independence.

3.This Council is pleased to bring these resolutions to the notice of the International Community.

1.We strongly condemn the listing of 16 Tamil Diaspora organizations and 424 members of the Tamil Diaspora through the Sri Lankan Gazette notification and its attempt to label them as supporting terrorism; we question the intentions of the Sri Lankan government to portray the organizations and individuals who function democratically in their respective countries.

2.            This Council urges the Sri Lankan government to give up such practices, withdraw the listings, and come forward urgently to find a political solution to the Tamil national quest.