• Sri Lanka refuses to assist international inquiry

    Jun 02
    The Sri Lankan government will not assist the United Nations investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict, reports the Daily FT.
  • ConIFA annuls Kurdistan victory, Tamil Eelam through to quarterfinal
    Kurdistan’s 9:0 victory against Tamil Eelam has been annulled and the match awarded as a 3:0 win to Tamil Eelam, after Kurdistan included too many players in their squad, the Tamil Guardian has learned.

    The Kurdish team had 26 players in their squad, although only 21 are allowed to be included by the governing body, said sources close to TEFA.
  • Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka - rape, sexual assault and forced prostitution of Tamils in military-run IDP camps
    Photograph HRW
    Arunachalam Camp, Menik Farm 19 Aug 2009

    Next week, the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is due to take place in London, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

    In the run up to the ESVC summit, we revisit the mounting evidence which documents the widespread, systematic and on-going use of sexual violence     by Sri Lanka's military against Tamils, that occurs with absolute impunity.

    See our full feature: 'Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka'

    As the armed conflict drew to an end in May 2009, an estimated 300,000 Tamils, who had faced repeated displacement, shelling and a severe lack of humanitarian aid, were forced into IDP camps run by the military and detained there for several months on end.

    Reports of rape, sexual assault and forced prostitution rings run by the military soon began to emerge from the camps.

    A Tamil medic, based in the UK who had been working as an aid worker in the Vanni during the armed conflict before being detained in the notorious Menik Farm camp, Damilvany Kumar, told The Observer:
    "Sexual abuse is something that was a common thing, that I personally saw. In the visitor area relatives would be the other side of the fence and we would be in the camp. Girls came to wait for their relatives and military officers would come and touch them, and that's something I saw.

    "The girls usually didn't talk back to them, because they knew that in the camp if they talked anything could happen to them. It was quite open, everyone could see the military officers touching the girls,"

  • Tamil Eelam at World Football Cup 2014

    The Tamil Eelam Football Association will play their first match of the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup today against Arameans Suryoye.

    The players trained for the first time since their arrival from their training camp in Norway on Sunday, with all the players fit for the big match.
  • Sri Lankan Minister warns against Modi
    Sri Lankan government Minister Wimal Weerawansa has warned that newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi poses a threat to Sri Lanka’s stability, according to the Colombo Gazette.
     
  • Police powers will not be given to provinces says Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesperson
    Police powers will not be devolved to the provinces even if the 13th Amendment to the constitution is implemented said the Sri Lankan government today.
  • War remembrance, reconciliation and non-violent resistance'
    International actors who are pushing for reconciliation must respond proactively to the Sri Lankan government's denial of the Tamil people's right to mourn their dead, said exiled Tamil journalist Nirmanusan Balasundaram in a piece published on Monday.

    Writing for Journalists for Democracy Sri Lanka, Balasundaram states that the Sri Lankan government continues to wage war on the Tamil populace, through acts such as the banning of any memorial events and the isolation of the Tamil diaspora.

    Despite this, the diaspora continues to build non-violent strategies to counter government moves, noted Balasundaram, adding that international actors who push for reconciliation must respond proactively to the government's actions.

  • Sri Lanka stalls on Indian vehicle assembly plants
    The Sri Lankan government has refused to grant permits to Maruti Suzuki India to open a vehicle assembly plant on the island, reported the Sunday Times, dashing the Indian company's plans.

    Quoting  Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, the Sunday Times reported that foreign manufacturers could not open plants on the island, unless there was “local input”.

    The announcement will also affect the local agent of Land Rover Defenders, where plans had been in place to bring in British engineers to help with the production process in their own plant.

  • Tamil Eelam lose first match to highly rated Arameans Suryoye
     
    Starting lineup of Tamil Eelam (Pictures: Tamil Guardian)

    The Tamil Eelam football team put up an impressive display against Arameans Suryoye, despite losing their opening match at the ConIFA World Cup 2-0.

    The match, taking place at the Jamkraft Arena in Ostersund, Sweden, was a lively encounter between the two teams, as they played each other for the first time.
  • Atchuveli residents protest after govt announces further land grab
    Photograph Uthayan
  • Rajapaksa orders release of 29 fishermen
    The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the release of the 29 fishermen arrested by the Navy earlier this week, as a goodwill measure, reports ColomboPage.
  • Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka - an orgy of rape in final days
    Photograph Channel 4


    Next week, the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is due to take place in London,     co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie.

    In the run up to the ESVC summit, we revisit the mounting evidence which documents the widespread, systematic and on-going use of sexual violence     by Sri Lanka's military against Tamils, that occurs with absolute impunity.

    See our full feature: 'Sexual Violence in Conflict: Sri Lanka'

    As the armed conflict drew to an end in May 2009, Sri Lanka's soldiers committed acts of sexual violence against Tamil women and men, both civilians and LTTE cadre, at will.

    One Sri Lankan soldier told Channel 4 in July 2011:
    "They [Sri Lankan soldiers] shoot people at random, stab people, rape them, cut their tongues out, cut women's breasts off. I have witnessed all this with my own eyes. I have seen small children laying dead."

    "If they wanted to rape a Tamil girl, they could just beat her and do it. If her parents tried to stop them, they could beat them or kill them. It was their empire."

    "One day I saw a group of six soldiers raping a young Tamil girl. I saw this with my own eyes."

    Much of the photographic and video evidence of sexual violence in the final stages of the armed conflict emerged in the form of 'trophy videos', filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers themselves whilst committing the crimes.

  • Tamil Eelam at World Football Cup 2014

    The Tamil Eelam Football Association will play their first match of the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup today against Arameans Suryoye.
  • School boy missing in Vavuniya
    A school boy has been reported missing in Vavuniya, after he failed to come home on May 27th, Global Tamil News reports.
  • Tamil asylum seeker dies in Australia after self-immolation fearing deportation
    A Tamil asylum seeker in Australia, who self-immolated for fear of being deported back to Sri Lanka, has died after suffering 90 percent burns to his body, reports the Age.

    Twenty-nine year old Leo Seemanpillai was taken to Alfred Hospital on Saturday following the incident, but died overnight.

    Mr Seemanpillai fled Sri Lanka by boat and arrived in Darwin in January 2013. He was granted a bridging visa in May.

    "He feared for his life if he was returned to Sri Lanka. His housemates have told me he repeatedly talked about being sent back, he was quite worried about it," a spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council, Aran Mylvaganam, who had known Mr Seemanpillai during the time he sought asylum, told the Age.

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