UK MPs come together to commemorate Black July, conduct cross-party discussions

The UK lawmakers across the aisles have come together to commemorate the anniversary of Black July, a week of anti-Tamil pogroms at least 37 years ago that led to the killing of thousands of people in Sri Lanka. From the ruling Conservative Party members to its biggest opposition, the Labour MPs and other Tamil representatives even discussed the essential topics including Sri Lanka, Black July, British politics, application of British foreign office and new global Human Rights Sanctions Act on Sri Lankan perpetrators. 

Stephen Timms, Chair of Work and Pensions Committee and former Vice-Chair of the APPG for Tamils expressed his ‘deepest sympathy’ to all those who were impacted with the horrible events that took place in Black July. He noted that the commemoration came at a time when the progress towards reconciliation in Sri Lanka appeared to have been ceased. According to Timms, the latest report of the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights about the situation in Sri Lanka ‘makes pretty grim reading’. He the, went on to quote some of the points made in the document. 

Timms said, “Just to quote some of the points that it makes, this was the report in February. It says that ‘there has been no further progress towards the development of a more comprehensive truth and reconciliation commission. There has also been no progress towards establishing a judicial mechanism with a special council to investigate allegations of human rights abuses.”

“That report is in the pursuit of Resolution 30/1 which Sri Lanka co-sponsored with the UK and others in 2015. But in February the Sri Lankan government said that it no longer supported that resolution and it appears that the Sri Lankan government is no longer even claiming to want reconciliation. It is a grim time and what I want to do is to reaffirm my support for what I think now is the only plausible way forward which is the establishment for the Independent international investigation of what happened in Sri Lanka at the end of the civil war in 2019,” he added.

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What is Black July?

Black July is the common name used to mention the anti-Tamil pogrom and riots that prevailed in Sri Lanka during July of 1983. The unrest was triggered as a response to a deadly ambush on July 23, 1983, that resulted in the killing of at least 13 soldiers of Sri Lankan army by the Tamil militant group. In a bid to respond, on the night of July 24, 1983, the anti-Tamil rioting started in the capital, Colombo and then eventually spread to other parts of the country.

Over the course of seven days, mobs attacked, burned, looted, and killed Tamilians. Accordion to existing records the death toll of the riots range between 400 and 3,000 while several thousand lost their homes. 8,000 homes and 5,000 shops were destroyed during this time and reportedly economic cost of the riots was $300 million. This was followed by Sri Lankan Tamilians fleeing to other countries and a large number of them even joined the militant groups. 

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