The self-styled Prime Minister of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, on Wednesday stressed the need to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe its rights record.

Addressing mediapersons in Chennai in an online video conference Rudrakumaran, a lawyer based in New York, launched a signature campaign urging the United Nations to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC. The international signature campaign, organisers said, sought to collect signatures in 15 languages for the purpose.

Nearly six years have passed since the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal ethnic conflict. Accusing the Sri Lankan armed forces of having killed and sexually abused tens of thousands of civilians including women, the TGTE cited a UN Panel of Experts’ report that had observed that the killings and other abuses amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The TGTE’s campaign comes ahead of the Human Rights Council in Geneva where a report on Sri Lanka’s rights record is scheduled to be submitted this September.
(The Hindu)