Tamils make history at the UK Labour Party Conference                      [Press release 03.October .2009]
Tamils made history in the UK with a momentous passing of an emergency resolution on Sri Lanka at the Labour Party Conference on Thursday, 1 October 2009.
The sitting government party passed a resolution condemning the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka by that government. Resolution was passed unanimously by thousands of delegates at the conference and in front of millions of live TV viewers.

The notable resolution was delivered by Mr Paul Kenny, General Secretary of GMB, Britain's general trade union, representing over 5 million members through its affiliate bodies. Delivering a bold, yet passionate speech, Mr Kenny was able to clearly articulate the desperate situation faced by Tamils locked up in ‘internment camps’ in Sri Lanka.
The emergency resolution, passed unanimously by delegates of the sitting government party, focussed on ending the detainment of civilians allowing them to return to their homes, allowing free access to journalists to report the ground situation and welcomed the recent decision of the EU to reconsider Sri Lanka’s favoured trading status of GSP+ to encourage such cooperation from the government of Sri Lanka.

In his statement, Mr Kenny did not shy from exposing the Sri Lankan government's ongoing media censorship, lack of access to aid groups and failure to fulfil their pledges. "The Sri Lankan government has made promises to the United Nations and world governments, including our own, to close these camps and let the people return to their homes and it’s not happened. They have not kept their promises, but we must hold them to those promises", he said.

 Mr Kenny's sentiments were echoed by an appeal from Mr Sen Kandiah, the Chairman of Tamils for Labour and a senior member of the British Tamils Forum. “Please support this motion calling for the closure of the concentration camps and give our people the food, the medicine, the dignity they deserve.... “Let the Tamil people set their own destiny… but most of all, give us our freedom” he urged.
 

Siobhain McDonagh MP for Mitcham and Morden spoke of the anguish felt by her constituents that have prompted her commitment to helping the British Tamils to save their families, relatives and friends in Sri Lanka. In a heartfelt appeal to the delegates, to shoulder their own commitment on the Sri Lanka issue, urging that a boycott of goods and avoiding holidays in the unsavory state would ensure their money would not “prop up that government!”
“Next time you want to buy underwear from Marks & Spencer, you want to buy a t-shirt from Next, you want to go on a holiday of a lifetime in a beautiful island off the coast of India - Do you really want to spend your money on a government that chooses to lock 300,000 people up behind barbed-wire. A country that is the most dangerous in the world to be a journalist! A country where we can see on Channel 4 News, young men, naked and bound shot at close range. Is that what we want for our money, for our democracy?” (click the picture to play the video)

Foreign Secretary, David Miliband MP, having been acknowledged by Ms McDonagh for his timely visit to Sri Lanka with his French counterpart, in his address commended the party’s democratic assistance in other parts of the world and implied to achieving the same in Sri Lanka. “And in those democracies, like Sri Lanka, where civil war claimed lives and liberty, we say governments have a duty to uphold the civil, social and political rights of all their citizens, whatever their ethnicity or religion. We also know that for too many people in our world, equality is a dream”, he said.
British Tamils Forum is encouraged and welcomes the move by the Labour Party and their MP’s ongoing commitment to the issues that concern their Tamil constituents.
British Tamils will continue to politically engage with all parties in Britain to bring a permanent solution to the suffering of Tamil people in Sri Lanka and restore a life of peace, justice and dignity in their traditional homeland.

 
Tamils convene in Paris for Global mobilisation                                                     (GTF Press release 5 September 2009)

Tamil Diaspora representatives from 5 continents assembled in Paris, France between 29 and 31 August to hold the first convention of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF). The dire situation faced by the Tamil people in Sri Lanka was discussed and action programs were deliberated to address their immediate needs. Over the 3 days of the conference GTF constitution was also adopted unanimously by the country representatives. Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam (PhD Cornell University) was elected as the President of GTF.

The immediate goal of the Global Tamil Forum is to unite the Tamil Diaspora throughout the world while working with the international community to get the 300,000 Tamil detainees currently imprisoned against their will in the internment camps in the North of the island released. GTF will also vigorously pursue and bring to justice the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“People are dying in large numbers due to communicable diseases in these overcrowded camps and child [More........]

British Tamils welcome Conservatives’ voice of concern for Tamils

[BTF Press release on 02.August 2009]
British Tamils Forum welcomes the statement last week by the Conservative Party highlighting the ongoing suffering of over 280,000 Tamils held in barbed-wire ringed, militarised detention camps in Sri Lanka.
We welcome the expressions of serious concern by Rt Hon William Hague and the Conservative Party regarding the ongoing imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of Tamils. We also welcome the Conservative party’s efforts to urge Sri Lanka’s ultra-nationalist government to adhere to its commitment to allow the Tamil people of Vanni back to their homes.
British Tamils share Mr. Hague’s observation that the continued confinement of the Tamil people in camps “will simply sow the seeds of discontent and may lead to renewed conflict in years to come.”
Noting Shadow Defence Secretary Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox’s recent visit to Sri Lanka, we are encouraged by comments attributed to him in media reports regarding the welfare and rights of the Tamil people.
Dr. Fox is reported to have impressed upon Sri Lanka’s hard-line President, Mahinda Rajapakse, that the legitimate rights of the Tamil people should be safeguarded and the displaced people now being held in government camps should be resettled without delay.
 

The Chairman for the British Tamils Forum, Mr Nathan Kumar, on behalf of the membership, emphasises the point that “a humanitarian crisis is recurring week after week in Sri Lanka’s camps and ending the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Tamils is the foremost priority of the British Tamils Forum”.
British Tamils Forum would like to highlight that the Sri Lankan Government was able to use “the defeat of terrorism” as a veil, to carry out its military campaign with impunity to quash the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people, and now strongly reiterate that the elimination of these factors holds no rationale for any limitations on access to aid agencies, international monitors and free media.
 

British Tamils Forum will continue to engage with all political parties and others in Britain to bring a permanent end to the suffering of the Tamil people in their traditional homeland.

Street Campaign [BTF 30.08.2009]

Hundreds of volunteers took to the streets of central London on Saturday 29 August to distribute campaign “Key” leaflets to urge the British public to voice their protest against Sri Lanka’s ‘concentration camps’.

Campaigners, mostly second and third generation Tamils, cloaked in "Stop Genocide in Sri Lanka" aprons, engaged with passers by, handing them flyers and briefing them on the struggle of their brethren in Sri Lanka.

       Mass Protest Outside Downing Street [BTF 29.08.2009]

Several thousand people participated in the “Key Campaign” protest outside Downing Street on Friday 28 August from 11am to 4pm to highlight the misery of over 280,000 Tamil civilians still languishing in ‘concentration camps’ in North East Sri Lanka.

Following the launch of this unprecedented campaign to raise public awareness of the plight of Tamil civilians, denied even their basic right to freedom of movement, living in squalid camps lacking essential food and supplies, crowds converged once again in London to demonstrate their protest and urge international action.

The crowd, ranging from young to old, chanting slogans and holding banners, called for the imprisoned civilians to be freed from their detention which has now spanned over 100 days.
 

Key Campaign to Unlock Sri Lankan ‘concentration camps’           [BTF Press release 28.08.2009]
Marking 100 days since the end of the bloody conflict in Sri Lanka and the imprisonment of over 280,000 Tamil civilians in deplorable ‘concentration camps’, British Tamils Forum launched an unprecedented “Key” campaign.
 

The launch event, attended by UK Parliamentarians, human rights activists, councillors and members of community organisations, was held at the Boothroyd Suite, Portcullis House in Westminster on Thursday, 27 August from 4pm. In an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the Tamil civilians who remain incarcerated in military-run camps, the UK Tamil Diaspora launched a “continuous campaign”, vowing to take action until all the illegally detained people are freed and resettled in their own homeland. The safety and security of these civilians guarded by military person [More.........] and Photos

Appeal to end internment camps in Sri Lanka
 

Three months on from military victory yet the misery continues for over 300,000 Tamil civilians in the island of Sri Lanka, who remain confined in military-run internment camps, hidden from the glare of international witnesses.

The Times UK reported deplorable death tolls in these camps arising from malnutrition, widespread disease and insufficient medical facilities. With the ongoing restrictions to aid agencies and international monitors, the true extent of the risks facing these imprisoned civilians remains vastly obscured. These supposed ‘welfare camps’ lack adequate sanitation facilities and access to clean water.

As monsoon season fast approaches, heavy rains in the areas of Vavuniya District and Menik Farm have already resulted in up to 1,925 shelters being damaged or destroyed as reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). [More.......]

Sri Lankan State Terror extends boundaries

Press Release on 11.08.2009 [BTF]
The Sri Lankan Government has once again exposed its arrogance as a ‘democratic state’ apparently unbound by international law and order, extending their practice of illegal abductions, kidnap, disappearances and violations of human rights with impunity, this time across international borders. The military establishment’s disrespect and disregard to international law and order in Sri Lanka is now being permitted internationally, it seems.

Recent news reports surrounding the alleged arrest of Mr Selvarasa Pathmanathan has once again bought to the foreground the Sri Lankan Government’s ability to whitewash international norms. The anomalies surrounding his kidnap and detention give rise to serious concerns over Sri Lanka’s seemingly superseding legal jurisdiction which is not restricted to the island of Sri Lanka. [More .............]

 

Tamils mourn Black July in London (BTF 28.07.2009)

Thousands converged in Trafalgar Square on Sunday, 26 July 2009 to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Black July 1983 riots in Sri Lanka, during which over 3,000 Tamils were killed and over 150,000 made homeless in Sinhala State sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms.

The stage, situated at the foot of Nelson’s column, adorned with red and yellow flags symbolising the national colours of the Tamil homeland, boasted a striking banner saying “Black July 1983 – 26 years Sri Lanka’s Genocide of Tamils continues”.

The event was held to mark the only anti-Tamil pogrom during Sri Lanka’s 61-year oppression that was recognised as an act of Genocide by the International Commission of Jurists in 1983. However, this year’s remembrance was far more sombre given that from the start of this year history was allowed to repeat itself, this time conducted in devastating proportions.

Tamil community organisations jointly hosted the remembrance rally, which commenced at 2pm. The crowd observed a two-minute silence in memory of the lives lost and lay flowers on mock tombs as a show of their respect for those who have perished in the ongoing genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Speakers included Jeremy Corbyn MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Mr Robert Evans - Former MEP, Navin Shah AM, Mr Andrew Judge (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Labour - Wimbledon) and members from the Tamil Councillors Association.

Matt Foot of CAMPACC, Maria from Peace Strike, Sara Callaway from Global Women's Strike and Tim Martin of Act Now also lent their voices to raise awareness of the ongoing plight of Tamils languishing in Nazi-style detention camps, where over 300,000 civilians remain imprisoned.

Many volunteers, mostly second and third generation Tamils, engaged with tourists and passers by handing them leaflets and giving them an insight into the Remembrance event being held.

Despite an overcast afternoon, the crowd were enthused by speeches made by representatives from Tamil community organisations, all of whom urged the community to continue to raise their voices as one for their brethren who remain imprisoned in camps. Photos from the Trafalgar Square

Tamil Diaspora Unites (BTF Press Release 22.07.2009)

The Global Tamil Diaspora has united to form the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), in response to the large scale massacre of Tamil civilians, internment of more than 300,000 in camps reminiscent of Nazi Germany and continuing inhumane treatment of these detainees by the Government of Sri Lanka. It is a need of the times and the first of its kind worldwide for the Tamils to speak with one voice.

This Forum will evolve as an independent, international organisation which adheres to the principles of democracy and non-violence and derives its strength from existing grassroots organisations of the Tamil Diaspora. Working in solidarity with the Tamils in Eelam and other communities in Sri Lanka, this Forum will strive to restore Tamil People’s right to self-determination and democratic self rule in their traditional homeland in the island of Sri Lanka.

The immediate goal of this Forum will be to address the plight of the Tamils interned in the camps and have their resettlement in their homes and villages expedited by generating international pressure upon the Government of Sri Lanka. The Forum will also explore avenues to bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice.

Tamil organisations from all five continents are represented in this Forum and have joined hands to further this mission. [Tamil Press Release]

HOME                                                                                                                               NEXT>>