Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

From Mullivaikkal to the Foreign Office – Ed Miliband’s record on Tamils and Sri Lanka
Miliband speaking at British Tamil event at the Houses of Parliament in 2013. Ed Miliband, appointed Foreign Secretary on Monday in Prime Minister Andy Burnham's first cabinet reshuffle, arrives at the Foreign Office with a longer record on Tamil affairs than almost any of his predecessors. During his time as Labour leader between 2010 and 2015, Miliband issued statements marking Mullivaikkal…

Remembering the Black Tigers

Jul 5, 2025
On July 5, Eelam Tamils across the world remember and mourn the sacrifices made by the LTTE's elite women and men, the Black Tigers. “Karumpuli Naal” marks the sacrifice made by the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, or Vallipuram Vasanthan, 37 years ago.

Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves

Jul 2, 2025
Krishanthi Kumaraswamy was an 18-year-old Tamil schoolgirl from Jaffna whose brutal rape and murder in 1996, along with the killing of her mother, younger brother, and a neighbour, became one of the most notorious atrocities of Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils.

UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves

Jun 25, 2025
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, visited the Chemmani mass grave site in Jaffna on Wednesday, as well as a vigil set up by Tamil protestors where he laid flowers before a flame amid calls for international accountability over wartime atrocities.

Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?

Jun 25, 2025
Chemmani, a village on the outskirts of Jaffna, is a serene and beautiful town that has come to take on a notorious reputation. It is the site of mass graves, where potentially, hundreds of Tamils who were murdered by the Sri Lankan military lie buried.

‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin

Jun 12, 2025

A vocal Tamil protest greeted Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Berlin on Thursday, as he met with senior German officials, amidst calls for accountability over mass atrocities committed against Tamils.

New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East

Jun 11, 2025
A newly released report by the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) has detailed the extent to which Sri Lanka’s security forces continue to maintain an oppressive culture of surveillance and intimidation in the Tamil North-East, more than 16 years after the end of the armed conflict.

Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue

Jun 10, 2025
An injunction has been issued by the occupying Sri Lankan police in Jaffna against 27 individuals and organisations, as Tamil protests continued against the illegal construction of the Buddhist vihara on privately owned Tamil land.

TNPF and DTNA hold talks on political alignment, federalism and local governance

Jun 5, 2025
Leaders of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) held a meeting in Jaffna on Sunday, where they discussed forging a broader political alignment and reiterated their shared commitment to achieving a federal constitutional settlement recognising the North-East as a merged Tamil homeland.

Remembering Pon. Sivakumaran 51 years on

Jun 5, 2025

Today marks 51 years since the death of Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, the first Tamil to die in the liberation struggle. 

Sivakumaran was a member of the Tamil Manavar Peravai (or Tamil Student Federation, TSF) and a leading militant in the early armed Tamil struggle. With decades of Sri Lankan state repression and deadly anti-Tamil pogroms already having taken place, Tamil militant movements began to form. Sivakumaran was involved in assassination attempts on both Somaweera Chandrasiri and Alfred Duraiappah.

‘History will judge us’: UN official invokes Sri Lanka in call to prevent genocide in Gaza

May 30, 2025
A top United Nations humanitarian official has warned that the world is failing to prevent genocide in Gaza, once again drawing a stark comparison with Sri Lanka’s 2009 genocide of Tamils.
Remembering the Black Tigers
Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves
UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves
Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?
‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin
New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East
Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue
TNPF and DTNA hold talks on political alignment, federalism and local governance
Remembering Pon. Sivakumaran 51 years on
‘History will judge us’: UN official invokes Sri Lanka in call to prevent genocide in Gaza
Remembering the Black Tigers
Explainer - Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and the Chemmani mass graves
UN human rights chief pays tribute at Chemmani protest, visits mass graves
Explainer - What are the Chemmani mass graves?
‘No justice for genocide’ - German Tamils confront Sri Lankan president in Berlin
New report details Sri Lanka’s surveillance and intimidation in the North-East
Sri Lanka deploys heavy security as Tamil protests over illegal Buddhist temple continue
TNPF and DTNA hold talks on political alignment, federalism and local governance
Remembering Pon. Sivakumaran 51 years on
‘History will judge us’: UN official invokes Sri Lanka in call to prevent genocide in Gaza