Former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga recently addressed an event at the Science Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies, despite her history of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity.

Kumaratunga was invited to give introductory remarks at the inauguration of the French university’s South Asia program. She joined the session virtually while other members of the faculty and alumni presided over the event.

All images courtesy of Phoenix TNG 

A multi-sensory art exhibition was held in Basel, Switzerland, over the weekend to commemorate and raise awareness on the 2009 Tamil genocide.

The exhibition, organised by Phoenix TNG in collaboration with LOTTA, drew attention to the massacre at Mullivaikkal, where Sri Lanka's forces slaughtered an estimated 169 796 Tamils.

As part of a series marking 15 years since the atrocities of Mullivaikkal, we share a reflection from the homeland.

At the end of the Mullivaikkal genocide, it was estimated that there were almost 80,000 woman-headed households in the North and East.

In this video, a Tamil woman whose husband and brothers were disappeared during the war, reflects on the struggles she goes through as the head of the household and the gender-based discrimination in the society she lives in.

This interview was originally published in May 2020.
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On this day 15 years ago, Stephen Sunthararaj, an activist who had exposed the trafficking of Tamil children into international prostitution rings, was abducted and forcibly disappeared in Colombo by armed men in military uniforms.

As part of his work he had told the then United States Ambassador in Colombo about prostitution rings run by government aligned paramilitaries in Jaffna. The paramilitaries were trafficking children into sex rings in India and Malaysia with the help of immigration officials.

The Mullaitivu Magistrate court has urged Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department to reconsider its case against 130 Tamils in the North-East. The Department alleges that the Tamils have unlawfully occupied and cleared parcels of land, but the Tamils refute this, asserting ownership through centuries-old deeds.

A tribute was held at the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) office in Kokuvil in memory of Manickavasagam Kanagasabapathy Eelvanthan (born Kanagentran) who passed away in Canada last week, aged 89. 

Members of the TNPF placed floral tributes and discussed his life and drew inspiration from his effort to amplify the cause for a Tamil homeland. 

Michael Rasa Mary, the mother of Major Sothiya, has passed away in Nelliyady, Jaffna today. 

Major Sothiya was the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) first female unit. Maria Vasanthi Michael, known by her nomme de guerre ‘Sothiya’, was born on 20 September 1963. She first joined the LTTE in 1984.

Despite Sri Lanka's Office of Mission Persons (OMP) failure to trace a single disappeared person, the office has launched an advert calling for a suitable individual to assist fact-finding missions.

The Jaffna Christian Union served Mullivaikkal Kanji yesterday to remember the Tamils who were brutally killed by the Sri Lankan state 15 years ago. 

From January 2009 to May 2009, Sri Lanka ramped up its genocidal offensive shelling Tamils trapped in the 'No Fire Zones'. 

The Indian High Commission in Colombo was forced to deny any Indian involvement with issuing visas in Sri Lanka, after a viral video alleged an Indian company had taken over the processing of visas at Colombo’s international airport.