Tamil Rights Group

The Tamil Rights Group (TRG) brings together victims, activists, practitioners, and experts from home and diaspora Tamil communities, and well-wishers who actively seek to take forward the transitional justice process despite the recent unilateral withdrawal of Sri Lanka from its United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) obligations it first co-sponsored in 2015. The Sri Lankan state is notoriously known for decades of failed domestic accountability mechanisms and thrives on a culture of impunity. The repetitive inactions of the judiciary to protect the culpability of the Sri Lankan state have demonstrated their unwillingness to deliver justice and accountability to victims of human rights abuses and serious violations. Sri Lanka’s decision to go back on its commitments and the reversal of the meagre progress on transitional justice leaves us with no alternative but to call for an independent international justice mechanism from the UNHRC. The UNHRC requires a robust response by the Council, including steps towards the creation of an accountability mechanism to ensure the victims of the nearly three-generation-long conflict get the justice that is owed to them. The intensification of national oppression of Eelam Tamils further warrants the need to establish TRG at this historical moment. It is dedicated to achieving justice and accountability through transitional justice processes and lawfare. The TRG is also a space for active collaboration between those who have been at the forefront of the Eelam Tamil political struggle, young activists, and advocates, thus bridging the gap between different generations.