As part of a series marking 15 years since the atrocities of Mullivaikkal, we share a reflection from the homeland.

At the end of the Mullivaikkal genocide, it was estimated that there were almost 80,000 woman-headed households in the North and East.

In this video, a Tamil woman whose husband and brothers were disappeared during the war, reflects on the struggles she goes through as the head of the household and the gender-based discrimination in the society she lives in.

This interview was originally published in May 2020.
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On this day 15 years ago, Stephen Sunthararaj, an activist who had exposed the trafficking of Tamil children into international prostitution rings, was abducted and forcibly disappeared in Colombo by armed men in military uniforms.

As part of his work he had told the then United States Ambassador in Colombo about prostitution rings run by government aligned paramilitaries in Jaffna. The paramilitaries were trafficking children into sex rings in India and Malaysia with the help of immigration officials.

The Mullaitivu Magistrate court has urged Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department to reconsider its case against 130 Tamils in the North-East. The Department alleges that the Tamils have unlawfully occupied and cleared parcels of land, but the Tamils refute this, asserting ownership through centuries-old deeds.

A tribute was held at the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) office in Kokuvil in memory of Manickavasagam Kanagasabapathy Eelvanthan (born Kanagentran) who passed away in Canada last week, aged 89. 

Members of the TNPF placed floral tributes and discussed his life and drew inspiration from his effort to amplify the cause for a Tamil homeland. 

Michael Rasa Mary, the mother of Major Sothiya, has passed away in Nelliyady, Jaffna today. 

Major Sothiya was the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) first female unit. Maria Vasanthi Michael, known by her nomme de guerre ‘Sothiya’, was born on 20 September 1963. She first joined the LTTE in 1984.

Despite Sri Lanka's Office of Mission Persons (OMP) failure to trace a single disappeared person, the office has launched an advert calling for a suitable individual to assist fact-finding missions.

The Jaffna Christian Union served Mullivaikkal Kanji yesterday to remember the Tamils who were brutally killed by the Sri Lankan state 15 years ago. 

From January 2009 to May 2009, Sri Lanka ramped up its genocidal offensive shelling Tamils trapped in the 'No Fire Zones'. 

The Indian High Commission in Colombo was forced to deny any Indian involvement with issuing visas in Sri Lanka, after a viral video alleged an Indian company had taken over the processing of visas at Colombo’s international airport.

This week excavations took place in mass graves across Tamil Eelam, as even more bodies continued to be unearthed. Almost 15 years after the Mullivaikkal genocide, the grisly discoveries are a reminder. Sri Lanka’s bloody history of mass atrocities cannot be buried. The past will eventually resurface, and it must be reckoned with.

I am from Vadduvaakal, Mullivaaikaal. I was a fisherman before the war. I used to do all my work, no matter how much work I have.

I lost both my legs during a Kfir attack during the last days of the war.

I wanted to die when I knew that I lost my legs. I asked the doctors at the hospital I was being taken care of, to please kill me with an injection; but they helped me recover.