UK film gives powerful evidence of Sri Lankan War Crimes: Tamil Canadians call for an emergency debate in Parliament

Toronto—Following the release of “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” in the UK, Tamil Canadians are demanding an emergency debate in Ottawa on an international war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka. The film, produced by Channel 4 News, exposes eyewitness footage of extra-judicial killings of prisoners by Sri Lankan government forces, the carnage of deliberate bombings of civilian hospitals and the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appear to have been sexually assaulted.

The film’s release comes at a time when a United Nations report on the Sri Lankan conflict concluded that allegations of the Sri Lankan government committing war crimes and crimes against humanity were “credible.” The report determined that as many as 40,000 innocent civilians were murdered. Despite the grave implications of the United Nations report, the Sri Lankan government continues to insist that they followed a ‘zero civilian casualty policy.’

The Sri Lankan Government expelled all foreign media in order to engage in a war without independent witnesses, said Krisna Saravanamuttu spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Tamils. “With the release of “Sri Lanka’s killing fields”, there now exists inexplicable evidence—for the world to bear witness to—of a deliberate and systematic scheme targeting tens of thousands of innocent civilians.”

In 2009, Canadian Tamils staged historic demonstrations where tens of thousands of people called on the international community to intervene and stop the violence in Sri Lanka.

“There are over 300,000 Tamils in Canada who fled persecution from Sri Lanka,” said Saravanamuttu. “The Canadian Tamil community trusts that all members of parliament will come together in a non-partisan way to demand an end to impunity by calling for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal”

The National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) is a grassroots organization, composed of elected representatives from across Canada that serves to organize Tamil-Canadians on a democratic and cooperative basis.

For more information or to arrange an interview in English please contact: Krisna Saravanamuttu, NCCT National Spokesperson: 647-448-0576 (cell).