Tamil Affairs

Tamil News

Latest news from and about the homeland

Temperatures are rising, impacting women led businesses in the north writes Amita Arudpragasam for the Himal Southasian, as extreme heat events linked to climate change become more frequent. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, 2024 was the hottest year on record, and temperatures are only set to increase. By May last year, there were reports that at least seven people had…

TNA remembrance event held in Vavuniya


The Tamil National Alliance held the a remembrance event for the thousands massacred during the final stages of the armed conflict, in Vavuniya on Saturday.

Speaking to AFP, Suresh Premachandran said:

Mauritians march to demand end to genocide


Hundreds of Mauritian Tamils marched through Port-Louis on Friday, demanding an end to the genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government and called upon the Mauritius not to attend the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.

Danish Tamils demand justice for Mullivaikkal massacre


Tamils in Copenhagen, Denmark, marked the 4th year anniversary of the Mullivaikkal massacre, and marched from the country's Foreign Office towards Parliament on Friday, demanding justice for the genocide that took place in 2009.

Exhibition in Melbourne highlights Tamil Genocide

Australian Parliamentarian Don Nardella

An exhibition in Melbourne, detailing the Tamil genocide, was attended by over one hundred people.

Don Nardella, Member of Parliament for the Australian Labor Party and secretary to the leader of the opposition spoke at the event and said the exhibition will open the eyes of the Australian people, and Steve Campbell of the Democratic Labor Party called on the organisers of the event to take the exhibition across Australia.

Norwegian Tamils remember Mullivaikkal

Tamils gathered yesterday, in cities across Norway, to mourn for those that lost their lives at Mullivaikkal. The Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils (NECT) organised events in the cities of Bergen and Trondheim, where speeches were made and candles were lit to commemorate the dead.

German Tamils mark Mullivaikal remembrance

German Tamils gathered in Düsseldorf to mark the fourth anniversary of the Mullivaikal massacre. Over 2000 Tamils marched through the town centre before congregating outside the local parliament of North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany.

The event, organised by the Tamil Youth Organisation - Germany and the Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen (Country Council of Eelam Tamils), saw speakers from German leftist party Die Linke and Kurdish activists.

Ellaalan commemorates Mullivaikkal with his first single

The run up to this year’s Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day has seen the Tamil nation express itself through various creative avenues, from marches through city centers, to choreographed dance, to haunting works of poetry.

The latest avenue of expression to be explored is the world of hip-hop. A British Tamil rapper, Ellaalan, has produced his debut rap song in collaboration with producer Santhors. The new single ‘Viduthalai Part II' , underlining the rapper’s discontent with the Eelam Tamil situation, was released on Friday.

*Warning: explicit language*

SL Minister - 'Northern PC election an insult to war heroes'

Sri Lanka's Technology and Atomic Energy Minister, Champika Ranawaka, said holding Northern Provincial Council election in the North would be an insult to Sri Lanka's dead soldiers.

Speaking at the 4th anniversary of what Tamils mark as genocide, and Sri Lanka celebrated as a victory, Ranawaka said:

“If not for the war victory achieved by the government, Tamil and Muslim political leaders who are very vocal today would have met with the same fate as Amirthalingam,”

More than just remembering' - TAG

A witness recalls the horrors of her walk towards the Sri Lankan Army controlled territory on the penultimate day of the conflict, the 17th May.

“I walked, following many others, thousands. As I walked I saw the scale of the destruction, there were pools of blood and many wounded or dead. I saw a truck laden with people that had been hit by a shell not long before - the wounds were fresh. There was a mother dead, her baby still alive beside her.”

What then followed was months in an IDP camp, months punctured by torture, and upon release, the constant fear of persecution. This, 4 years on from those final days of death and surrender, is the reality of life for many Tamils in Sri Lanka.

On this anniversary, we remember those who lost their lives and those who survived them and we ask, what progress has been made in the fight for justice? The answer is sobering – far too little. This in spite of incontrovertible evidence of the crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state against its own citizens, this despite the manifest failings of the Sri Lankan state to provide justice, this despite much international condemnation by states, INGOs, and, especially of late, the international legal community.

Seeking security

Four years have passed since the Tamil nation suffered the zenith of genocide inflicted upon it by the Sri Lankan state, where tens of thousands of Tamils were herded into a tiny of slither of land, only to be massacred with heavy artillery, systematically raped and tortured, deliberately starved, deprived of humanitarian assistance and murdered in cold blood. The evidence - not only indicative of the appalling nature of the crimes, but the intentional and systematic way in which they were perpetrated – is increasing. Yet despite this, and the ample time that has passed, Tamils have not seen a credible, international process towards accountability and justice, or a meaningful attempt to deliver a political solution that ensures their future security. The Tamil nation is instead, more exposed now than ever before – its identity is being destroyed, its claims to nationhood are being dismantled and its homeland erased of its Tamil character.