Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

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Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Mano Ganesan has accused the National People's Power (NPP) government of hypocrisy over the arrest of Tamil rapper Sangeethsan Ganeskumar under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), pointing to NPP politicians who had themselves circulated songs glorifying the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during election campaigns. Sangeethsan, known…

Hague to investigate Tamil asylum seeker torture reports

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has stated the UK government will investigate claims that Tamil rape victims are being deported to Sri Lanka were they face torture by security forces, in an interview to the Guardian on Tuesday.

His pledge comes after the Guardian reported that a Tamil asylum seeker faces deportation from the UK for a second time, despite being "beaten, branded, suffocated and rape" on his first deportation. See here for more.

Hague was joined by the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie, who also said she was to meet female Tamil refugees in Britain and discuss the issue with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the course of the four-day summit.

Why is systemic rape of Tamils in Sri Lanka not on the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict agenda asks Bianca Jagger

‘Why has the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict forgotten survivors in Sri Lanka,' asked a well-known human rights activist , Bianca Jagger.

Writing in the Huffington Post today, the founder of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, expressed regret at the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague’s and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie's omission of Sri Lanka from the conference agenda.
“The team is working on both ongoing (DR Congo, Syria) and historic (Libiya, Bosnia, Rwanda) cases of sexual violence in conflict—and has recently expanded its remit to cover more countries including Burma..Yet Sri Lanka, where rape has been a weapon of war for many years of brutal civil conflict, is not being examined,” she wrote.
See further extracts from her statement below.

OHCHR sends inquiry details to Sri Lanka

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said today that the Sri Lankan government has been notified of the details of the team that will conduct the investigations into human rights violations.

‘False documents’ used for land ownership claims in Northeast – SL Army

Claims for land, which has been taken by the military in the northeast, are being made using “false documents”, military spokesperson Ruwan Wanigasooriya said according to Ceylon Today.

He said that the people asking for the return of their land should produce relevant documents.

"The claimants also seem to be politically motivated. There are instances where five people claimed ownership of the same land," he said.

Concrete action' needed at London Summit - HRW

Human Rights Watch has called on governments worldwide to make strong commitments to end impunity for those who carry out sexual violence, ahead of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict tomorrow.

The summit tomorrow is expected to be the largest gathering of its kind to discuss prevention and response to sexual violence, with  Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, adding,
“The terrible human cost for civilians caught in conflict is even greater for women and girls, who often face sexual violence from all sides and have nowhere to turn for protection... The London summit will only be a success if the pledges countries make to end the scourge of rape in war are translated into concrete action.”
Noting that they have documented cases of sexual violence  in countries, including Sri Lanka, HRW went on to say,
“Countries with armed conflicts should make clear they will arrest and prosecute those responsible for sexual violence, including officers in their own troops with command responsibility for the attackers.”

Sri Lanka releases fishermen as Jaya calls for 'strong response'

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the release of 78 Indian fishermen held under Sri Lankan custody, as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again, to address the issue of attacks on fishermen.

The released Indian fishermen were part of a group recently arrested and had their fishing trawlers confiscated by the Sri Lankan Navy, as arrests of Indian fishermen continued.

Jayalalithaa, in her second letter to the Indian Prime Minister, called for a “long-term, permanent solution to the problem and also to put in place a strong and robust diplomatic response”.

She went on to add that,
“As an immediate measure, I request you to kindly ensure that India registers the strongest disapproval of the belligerent actions of the Sri Lankan Navy.”

Jaffna Press Club deplores unabated attack on Tamil press freedom by Sri Lankan state

The Jaffna Press Club, condemned the Sri Lankan state's actions to ‘prevent the knowledge-based development workshops for Tamil speaking journalists,' in a statement on the recent disruption, by a Sinhala mob, of a journalism workshop hosted by Transparency International.

"Many journalists in the North-East have been murdered with impunity in recent critical times. Some have been abducted or been disappeared. A number of journalists have escaped murder attempts with serious injuries. Such a critical situation has led to many journalists fleeing the profession and even the country,” said the statement outlining the unabated oppression of Tamil press in the North-East.


Full statement reproduced below.

Rising number of army deserters committing crimes

An increasing number of soldiers who have deserted the Sri Lankan Army are going on to commit crimes according to the latest reported statistics, with tens of thousands of soldiers classed as deserters.

In a feature on Al Jazeera, Sri Lankan police statistics were reported as showing that the first four months of 2014 alone saw that 18 percent of reported crimes were committed by members of the armed forces. In 2013 that figure was 5 percent.

Sri Lankan Navy arrests dozens of Indian fishermen

A total of 82 Indian fishermen were arrested and 18 of their trawlers have been seized by the Sri Lankan Navy, in another spate of arrests.

The latest clash comes just days after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa released 33 Indian fishermen from Sri Lanka custody, as a gesture of goodwill between the two countries. Previous releases have also been followed by further arrests, just days after.