British political parties discuss sanctions and referring Sri Lanka to ICC at first ever Tamil hustings

Ahead of Britain’s general election on 4 July, representatives from the Conservatives, Labour and Green Party addressed the first-ever British Tamil hustings, as they all pledged to work towards justice and accountability for mass atrocities in Sri Lanka.

The event, hosted by the Tamil Guardian and British Tamil Alliance, took place in Westminster, London last week, as party representatives laid out their vision for the country and shared commitment to the British Tamil community.

Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell of the Conservative Party, Shadow Minister for Asia Catherine West of the Labour Party and Migrant & Refugee Support Spokesperson for the Green Party Benali Hamdache took questions from Tamil Guardian editor Dr Thusiyan Nandakumar, and from the audience, on recognition of the Tamil genocide and international justice for the mass atrocities, amongst other pressing issues.

Whilst Mitchell spoke of how a Conservative-led government would continue to raise Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, West was clear that the Labour Party would look to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court.

“Unlike the current government, in the most ordered way we can, we will be putting the international law at the heart of our foreign policy,” said West. “Keir Starmer, as you are aware, has previously called on the British government to take a leading role in referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court.”

West maintained that the “assessment and mechanism exists within Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, but we believe there has a lack of political will to put into motion that mechanism”. 

“That is a clear line between ourselves and the current government. We support all measures to hold those responsible for human rights abuses to justice.”

Whilst Mitchell said the Conservative Party would continue to support action at the UN Human Rights Council, when pressed on whether there was value in the UK raising Sri Lanka at the UN Security Council, he responded by saying, “We could certainly look at it and if members of the Tamil Community here pressed us to do so we certainly would”.