Tamil Action Committee for International Accountability Mechanism [TACIAM] led by Jaffna University Professor V.P Sivanathan in coordination with Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF). The Tamil Action Committee for International Accountability Mechanism (TACIAM) was launched in Sept. 2015 by several civil society organisations based in the North and Eas
t of Sri Lanka which comprises the areas of historic habitation of the Tamil people. TACIAM's primary objective is in reference to the proposed resolution on Sri Lanka that is to be passed in the UNHRC’s 30th session, pursuant to the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Right’s Inquiry on Sri Lanka (OISL) that was released on the 16 September 2015. In the view of the Tamil people, who also form the vast majority of the victims in the conflict in Sri Lanka, the perpetrators responsible for serious crimes alleged to have been committed need to be brought to justice through an international judicial mechanism. This desire is reflected in the signature campaign initiated by TACIAM in which more than 150,000 people from across the North-East of Sri Lanka have taken part. Signatories include Members of Parliament, Northern and Eastern Provincial Council members, local government members, religious dignitaries, academics and civil society leaders. This desire for an international judicial mechanism is also reflected in the recent resolution unanimously passed by the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka and the very strong mandates given by the Tamil people at successive elections since the end of the war, including the General Elections of August 2015. As many experts have stressed the trust and expectations of the victims is central and essential to the design and implementation of mechanisms of accountability in post-war contexts. Given past experiences and the composition of the current Government, which includes those who were holding high office and were part of the regime that prosecuted the war, and since the stated intention of the present Government being that its foremost objective in setting up a domestic mechanism is the 'clearing of the name of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces', Tamil victims strongly believe that a domestic judicial process will not hold to account the perpetrators of the serious crimes that have been committed that they believe to includes the crime of Genocide. Consequently TACIAM has been carrying out a signature campaign since the beginning of September 2015 asking people to support and endorse the following petition:-
"We hereby insist on the United Nations to provide for an international criminal justice mechanism to prosecute those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law that took place in Sri Lanka. We also categorically reject any domestic mechanism or inquiry for the purposes of establishing accountability for Tamils that is undertaken by the Sri Lankan State.”
