Tamil families of the disappeared marked International Women's Day with a protest in Vavuniya yesterday as they called on the Sri Lankan government to disclose the whereabouts of their forcibly disappeared loved ones. 

“On this occasion, the entire women community must protest alongside us in order to help us secure justice,” the demonstrators said.

The Canadian Tamil Women’s Organization hosted a socially distanced Car rally in Toronto, “demanding Canadian and international action on Sri Lanka and justice for Tamil Genocide.” 

The protest took place on International Women’s Day (IWD), and protestors gathered in Markham and Brampton with a final destination of Queens Park in Toronto, the Ontario Legislative Building site that houses the Legislative assembly of Ontario. 

A protest was held in Jaffna today marking International Women's Day, demanding international justice for human rights abuses against women by the Sri Lankan government.

Writing to Minister of State for Asia, Nigel Adams, UK Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Stephen Kinnock, has called on the government to ‘comprehensively rewrite’ the current proposed UN resolution and questioned why the government’s review of its Global Human Rights sanctions regime does not include “a single senior Sri Lankan government minister, official or military officer”.

In his statement Kinnock criticised the government's refusal to consider referring Sri Lanka to the ICC, maintain that Britain’s position, “should not be determined simply by the veto-wielding intentions of two of its permanent members”.

Tamil families of the disappeared braved military intimidation and marched across Mullaitivu this morning, as they marked International Women’s Day with another rally demanding justice for their disappeared loved ones.

The families dressed in black for their rally as a sign of protest. They have been demonstrating for more than 4 years on the roadsides of the North-East, demanding information on the whereabouts of their loved ones and justice for their disappearances.

The United Nations Department of Peace Operations should "immediately suspend the deployment of Sri Lankan peacekeepers" over Sri Lanka's failure to investigate and prosecute international crimes and the promotion of "alleged war criminals to perform high-level state functions," Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director at the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) wrote for Just Security. 

Ambihai K Selvakumar, a director of the International Centre for the Prevention of Genocide (ICPPG), is on her ninth day of hunger-striking as she continues to demand justice for the genocide of Tamils carried out by the Sri Lankan state.

Famed Eelam Tamil and Dalit writer Dominic Jeeva passed away on 28 January 2021.

Jeeva was the editor of Mallikai, a monthly journal on Tamil literature for more than four decades, and courageously narrated intersectioning tales of oppression and marginalisation on the island.

We share below some excerpts of his work and words as a tribute to the renowned writer.

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Responding to a petition with over 13,500 signatures, calling on the British government to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court, the UK government has responded citing “insufficient UN Security Council support”.

Responding to the British statement, Tasha Manoranjan, Executive Director of PEARL stated: “We are disappointed that the UK Government has shied away from pursuing international criminal accountability for the mass atrocities against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka”.