The ‘Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal’ has officially release the Judgement of its investigations against the Sri Lankan State and its accomplices on the charge of Genocide against the Tamil people. The document was presented on a press conference in the Geneva Press Club on January 22nd, 2014.
According to the UN’s Petrie Report the final weeks of the war in Sri Lanka in early 2009 left an estimated 70.000 Tamils unaccounted for. The thorough investigation by the Tribunal into the history of the Sri Lankan conflict has established that the Sri Lankan military’s conduct during this period constitute not only war crimes but are ‘part of a coordinated plan whose different components aim at the physical destruction’ of the Tamil people ‘in whole or in part.’ Further, it was found that without the substantial political and military assistance by its external accomplices the Sri Lankan State would not have had the capacity to conduct its extermination campaign. The reputed jury of eleven genocide experts, experts on international law and human rights defenders examined several studies and background papers on the charges and heard evidence from more than 30 witnesses and analysts, before reaching the verdict. The text of the judgement will be made available to those attending, and the following representatives of the panel of jurors will be present to answer questions and to elaborate on the points raised by the verdict.
The press conference was led by three jurors of the panel: Dr. Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Laureate of the Gandhi International Peace Award, Dr. Haluk Gerger, a renowned Turkish academic and middle east analyst, as well as Dr. Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General of the Permanent People’s Tribunal in Rome.
You can download the Final Report here: Final Report of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka – Session II [pdf: 1mb]
The Final Report is also available as a printed version. The report can be ordered from the organisations that prepared the accusations. For more information please feel free to contact
International Human Rights Association: imrvbremen (at) gmail.com
Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka: irishpeaceforum [at] gmail.com