Press Release

Paris 23 July 2003


Press Release


On the eve of Black July 1983, remembering the 27th year of the July genocide, we the House of Tamil Eelam France welcome the formation of the Advisory Panel created by the United Nation.

1958, 1977, 1983, 1986,1996,2006,2009 has become the unforgettable years for the Tamils of Sri Lanka. A nation which had its grassroots since more than 2000 years has become a people without rights.

Tamils who had their kingdom unified, by force to facilitate their own administration during colonial period the kingdom was dismantled during that years and today have it has been transformed into a country where a part of the people has become none citizens.

A man’s fundamental rights are his land, language and culture, which today are being destroyed.

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

While a precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of this convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.

Under the following circumstances and the propos by Mr Gordon Weiss (UN Official to Sri Lanka and resigned after the end of the war) where he speaks out about more the 40000 killed in the very last days of the war and under circumstances that the true witness of the war stay buried in the territory where the war occurred during the last days and also the witness of those silenced and those who are ready to give witness, clearly shows that war crimes and crime against genocide had been committed in Sri Lanka since the early years of 1948.

Today the International Community has been calling Sri Lanka to create its own inquiry committee, when a country wants to play time on her favor, the very first thing a government does is creating commissions and Sri lanka has a very long history of creating commissions and an example for this is the one created for the murders of the 17 employee of the French NGO “Action Contre le Faim”.

Welcoming the creation of the Advisory Committee on behave of Sri Lanka by the United Nations, we call upon the United Nations to more further up and create an Independent Inquiry committee to investigate crimes committed by all parties including politicians since the independence of Sri lanka. As Crime has not been committed just during January to May 2009, but which has started the day Sri lanka became independent, 62years of atrocities committed against a part of the population in Sri Lanka.

On achieving this we encourage and support the youngster Mr. Sivanthan who is walking for justice for the Tamils from London to Geneva through France, starting from London on the 23rd July 2010, on the eve of a day which is deeply anchored in the hearts of the Tamils all around the world.
Thiruchchoti.T
Président de la Maison du Tamil Eelam
Tel: 06 15 88 42 21 - Email : mte.France@gmail.com

La Maison du Tamil Eelam, association française - régie par la loi de 1901- créée en 2009 avec le soutien de nombreuses organisations de la communauté tamoule de France, tente de mobiliser les compétences et les connaissances de ses membres, des sympathisants et des proches y compris des dirigeants au sein des gouvernements, institutions et organisations dans le but d'alléger les souffrances de la communauté tamoule de l'île du Sri Lanka et de revendiquer leur droit à l'auto-détermination dans un cadre démocratique, en conformité avec le droit international, les pactes et conventions.

Elle est aussi membre d'une organisation mondiale, Global Tamil Forum, créée en 2009 avec le soutien de nombreuses organisations de la communauté tamoule du monde entier.

Pour plus d'informations, concernant notre mission et notre statut, contactez : mte.france@gmail.com.