Switzerland deported at least two Eelam Tamil families to Sri Lanka last month, with at least one person injured during the deportation as officers beat a man, according to the Migrant Solidarity Network.

After touring the island and presenting copies of a newly signed declaration with Sinhala Buddhist clergy, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) made a stop on their circuit to take photographs alongside accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa.

A landmark resolution has been brought by a group of US senators and representatives from across both parties this week, urging Sri Lanka to demilitarise the North-East, repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, halt land grabs and remove war criminals from positions of authority.

Today marks 17 years since the passing of the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Anton Balasingham. 

He remains an extraordinary theoretician and a formidable figure within the Tamil struggle.

Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) interrogated a former Jaffna university student for more than 3 hours, over the choice of songs that were played during a commemoration ceremony at the campus in May 2022.

The Royal National Theatre, a landmark London venue, has appointed British Tamil Indhu Rubasingham as its artistic director – making her the first female to hold the post in its 60-year history.

“It’s a huge honour to be appointed Director of the National Theatre,” said Rubasingham. “For me, this is the best job in the world.”

The ‘Himalaya Declaration’, a supposed path forward for the island that had the blessings of the Sri Lankan state, contained little substance. Instead, it sought to give a regime that is facing increasing global pressure a cheap veneer of progress, obfuscating more than 15 years of calls for international accountability and whitewashing decades of struggle for self-determination. Those who champion justice for the Tamil genocide will be rightly outraged.

An event commemorating the 40-year-old history of the Tamil diaspora in Switzerland took place in Bern last week, marking their journey to the country, as well as the growth and challenges they faced since arrival.

The first Tamil refugees arrived in Switzerland 40 years ago, escaping the horrors of the anti-Tamil Black July pogroms and the escalation of armed conflict in Sri Lanka. With an estimated 60,000 members, Eelam Tamils are one of the largest diaspora groups in Switzerland today.

In a heated parliamentary debate on human rights in Sri Lanka, British Minister of State for the Foreign Office, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, avoided commenting on the growing bi-partisan calls for sanctions on Sri Lankan officials.

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has acquitted two soldiers who were initially sentenced to death over the 1996 gang rape and murder of a Tamil woman in Jaffna.

The decision, made by the Court of Appeal last week, saw two defendants, soldier Hevapedike Sarathchandra and Corporal Gamage Kitsiri, acquitted of all charges.

A third soldier Corporal Gamini Saman Liyenake has been ordered to have a retrial.

Standing with the Eelam Tamil community in their struggle against oppression and injustice. We must find a permanent solution based on their right to self-determination that ensures stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/x2boQ4cek4

More Tamil diaspora organisations have spoken out against a declaration signed by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and Sinhala Buddhist clergy, stating it gives Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe an “opportunity to hoodwink the international community”, as backlash continues to grow this week.

The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) hosted the annual International Human Rights Day event in London, UK, on 10 December 2023. The event, attended by renowned journalists, human rights activists, professionals and politicians, shed light on the role the international human rights system has played both in the past and continuing human rights abuses faced by the Tamil population in the North-East and in the diaspora.

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