• Flowers and lamps in Jaffna to commemorate burning of library

    The anniversary of the burning of the Jaffna Public Library was commemorated earlier today, marking 41 years since Sri Lankan state backed mobs set ablaze the crucible of Eelam Tamil literature and heritage.  

  • Assassinated Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan remembered in the North-East

    Tamil journalist, Aiyathurai Nadesan, was remembered by journalists in memorial events held across the North-East, marking 18 years since his assassination. 

  • Saudi Arabia welcomes racist Sri Lankan monk to combat 'religious extremism'

    Sri Lanka’s notorious Buddhist monk Galagodaaththe Gnanasara has been welcomed by officials of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh as the kingdom bestowed their support to eradicate “religious extremism” in Sri Lanka.

  • We must continue the fight to end fortress Australia'

    Writing in Redflag this week, Tamil Refugee Council member Ben Hillier condemned the newly elected Australian Labor Party (ALP)'s immigration policy and it's handling of the Murugappan family’s immigration case. 

    Hillier stated that the new Labor government could have granted permanent protection to the Murugappan family, "the Biloela family snatched from their home four years ago by Border Force and placed in the prison-like conditions of immigration detention by the Liberal government."

  • ‘Jaffna burns again’ - snippets from the burning of Jaffna Library

    May 31, 1981 marked not only the burning of the Jaffna Public Library, but the beginning of a week-long rampage of violence by Sri Lankan security forces and Sinhala mobs which devastated the peninsula.

  • Anywhere but here – Sri Lanka tells airlines to fill up elsewhere

    Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Authority has told airlines coming to the island to either ensure all flights arrive with the required fuel they need to leave or fill up elsewhere, as fuel shortages amidst an economic crisis wreaks havoc on the island.

  • British PM discusses clean energy and Ukraine with Wickremesinghe

    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his government’s “continuing support for the people of Sri Lanka during their current economic difficulties” in a phone call with his counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier today.

  • 1,906 days of struggle and still no justice

    In Mullaitivu, Families of the Disappeared gathered for the 1,906 day of protest and to mark the death of one of their members, Mary Fatima Pushparani.

    Pushparani was a native of Vadamarachchi East & former president of Jaffna District Missing Persons Association. For the past 13 years, she searched for her son after having lost another to the war. She passed away at Chavakachcheri base hospital. At least 115 demonstrators have died without knowing the truth behind their loved ones’ disappearances.

  • Another Tamil mother dies without knowing the fate of her son

    Within less than two weeks since Mullivaikkal commemorations took place on the 18 May for the hundreds of thousands of Tamil genocide victims, another Tamil mother searching for her forcibly disappeared son has passed away.

  • Doug Ford, the Tamil struggle is not for sale

    Photograph: Gardiner Expressway, May 10, 2009

    Thirteen years ago, I was among tens of thousands in Toronto’s Tamil community who protested the war in Sri Lanka. I remember waking up on Mother’s Day that year to the horrific news that an all-night artillery barrage killed nearly 1,000 people in a single night. After weeks of candlelight vigils, letter-writing campaigns and petitioning, we felt desperate to draw the world’s attention to Sri Lanka’s escalating genocide against the Tamil people.

    Later that day, thousands of us occupied the Gardiner Expressway. It would become a landmark event in the history of our community.

  • TNA MP calls on Canada to support ‘interim governing mechanism’ for Eelam Tamils

    A Tamil lawmaker thanked Canada’s parliament over a landmark motion that recognised May 18th as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day and called for an internationally monitored referendum for Eelam Tamils and the diaspora to determine their political future.

  • Popular travel provider TUI cancels more holidays to Sri Lanka 

    All holidays booked to Sri Lanka up to and including June 12 2022 with the travel provider Tui have been cancelled, as the country's tourism industry suffered another blow last week.

  • Sri Lanka's medicine crisis is 'virtual death sentence' warn doctors

    The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has produced a medicine shortage that doctors say could result in deaths, as hospitals are unable to perform life-saving procedures. 

    The healthcare system sits on the brink of collapse as Sri Lanka confronts an unprecedented economic crisis. As 80% of medical supplies in the country are imported and foreign currency reserves are depleted, essential medications are in desperately short supply.

  • Sri Lanka’s crisis forces garment workers to prostitution

    Women in Sri Lanka who were formerly employed in the textiles and garment industry are being forced to turn to prostitution and sex work, as an economic crisis on the island continues to impact on livelihoods reports The Telegraph.

    “Poor politics has shattered my life and this is my only hope to put food on the table for my children,” on sex worker told The Telegraph.

Subscribe to Tamil Affairs