[ad_1]
Canada on Tuesday sanctioned four Sri Lankan state officials, including Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former president and brothers, for human rights violations during the island’s civil war.
A statement from the country’s foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, said the four were “responsible for gross and systematic human rights violations” during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict from 1983 to 2009, which targeted the country’s Tamil minority .
When Mahinda Rajapaksa took office in 2009, an unrestricted military campaign wiped out the Tamil Tigers separatist movement and Gotabaya ran the defense ministry.
International observers estimate that as many as 40,000 civilians from the Tamil minority were killed in indiscriminate bombing and clearance operations in the final months of the war.
Senior Sri Lankan military commanders have since been hit with sanctions and travel bans from Western countries, but Canada’s decision is the first to target two members of a powerful political bloc.
The measures announced Tuesday will “effectively freeze any assets they may hold in Canada and prevent them from entering Canada,” the statement said.
“These sanctions send a clear message that Canada will not accept continued impunity for those who committed serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka,” it added.
“Over the past four decades, the people of Sri Lanka have suffered tremendously as a result of armed conflict, economic and political instability, and serious human rights violations. Canada stands firmly in support of peace, reconciliation, justice, and accountability on the island. Canada has taken decisive action today to action to end the international community’s impunity for those who violate international law,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
The other two on the sanctions list are Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake and Lieutenant Colonel Chandana Prasad Hetiaraqi.
A former military officer, Gotabaya served as President of Sri Lanka from November 2019 to July 2022. He fled the country and later resigned after widespread protests sparked by the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
His older brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was president from 2005 to 2015. He was later named prime minister Gotabaya, but also resigned amid protests in 2022.
“Victims and survivors of gross human rights violations deserve justice. That is why Canada continues to call on Sri Lanka to honor its commitment to establish meaningful accountability processes,” Canada’s statement said.
(Input via AFP)
[ad_2]
Source link
