The women who wrote these poems are all but one former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). All were detained and tortured after the end of the armed conflict and were forced to flee abroad, leaving loved ones behind. They vary in age from their twenties to sixties; one is widowed, some married and some unmarried as of yet.

In advance of the 15^th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal genocide, Elliot Colburn, MP for Carshalton and Wallington and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) sat down with Tamil Guardian for a wide-ranging conversation on genocide recognition; bringing Sri Lanka before the ICC; and upholding the rights of Tamils for self-determination.

Sri Lanka has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with India's Adani Green Energy, for two wind power stations developed by the company in the North-East,

With Tamils across the North-East mourning the tens of thousands killed by the Sri Lankan military during the Mullivaikkal genocide, the Sri Lankan president instead took part in a ceremony to mark ‘War Heroes Commemoration Month’.

(Image courtesy: Nitin Kanotra | Hindustan Times)

Despite the presence of thousands of Eelam Tamils who continue to seek asylum and refuge in India, only one Eelam Tamil, Nalini Kirubakaran was given the civic right to vote in India’s Lok Sabha elections this year. 

The Commander of Sri Lanka’s Army Vikum Liyanage has filed legal action against an individual under the newly legislated  Online Safety Act, after a social media post accused him of war crimes and corruption.

Tamils in Jaffna have demanded the Northern Provincial Governor provide them unfettered road access to lands that were allegedly “released” by the Sri Lankan government but remain restricted by military checkpoints. 

The family and community of a Tamil man, whom Sri Lanka Police officers assaulted at the Puliyankulam station, organized a protest outside the station. They demanded the arrest of the officer-in-charge and his presentation before the courts.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.