The Hon. Kaveenthiran Kodeeswaran

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, during the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council now underway, relatives of the forcibly disappeared have been protesting for more than 3,200 days, seeking truth and justice for loved ones handed over to the military or state agencies. Justice remains elusive. Though offices like the OMP and ONUR were established, meaningful justice has not reached our people. They will continue to struggle until justice is done.

¶ 02 In the final phase of the war, an estimated 150,000 Tamils were killed—this was not only ethnic in nature but also targeted our language, culture, space, and identity, and the impunity has continued. We seek international justice; we do not have confidence in purely domestic or hybrid mechanisms. Only referral to an international criminal process can deliver credible justice.

¶ 03 On constitutional reform: we need a new Constitution that meaningfully devolves power beyond the 13th Amendment. Equality is also denied through unfair delimitation: wards and local units are uneven—some with 6,000 people per ward, others with 500—disadvantaging Tamil-speaking communities. With a two-thirds majority, the Government should re-draw boundaries fairly and hold local government elections under equitable units.

¶ 04 Public confidence in policing is low due to unchecked robberies, murders, kidnappings, and narcotics trade, and the rise of underworld gangs. The Government must act decisively and impose the highest penalties on those responsible. We in this House will extend full cooperation to such measures.