தமிழ்த் தேசியம்

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."

- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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Home> Struggle for Tamil Eelam  > International Federation of Tamils (IFT) > International Frame & the Tamil Struggle > International Relations in an Emerging Multilateral World 

THE STRUGGLE FOR TAMIL EELAM

International Federation of Tamils (IFT)
18 Rues des Paquis, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland,
tel/fax +22 7320831, email:

"..The Struggle for Tamil Eelam is a National Question
- and it is therefore an International Question.."

30 March 2007Jeyakumar: A Proud Son of the Tamil Diaspora  [also in PDF]
12 March 2007IFT Briefing Report to UN Human Rights Council - Sri Lanka: Human Rights & Humanitarian Crisis in North East Sri Lanka [also in PDF]
7 February 2007International Federation of Tamils - Observations on the Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka” (S/2006/1006), 20 December 2006.
4 November 2006International Federation of Tamils calls upon the International Community to Respond Meaningfully to Sri Lanka's Message of Terror
5 September 2006

Sri Lanka: Military Annexation Of Sampur A Complete Collapse Of CFA?

24 August 200617 Aid Workers Executed by Sri Lanka
15 August 2006 Mass Killing Of  School Children In An Orphanage In Sri Lanka: Failure To Act Constitutes A Violation of Duties
17 July 2006International Federation of Tamils writes to UNICEF
20 June 2006 Appeal International Federation of Tamils to UN Human Rights Council
16 June 2006Sri Lanka's Readiness To Launch War On Tamil Nation
14 June 2006International Federation of Tamils calls upon High Commissioner For Human Rights to condemn murder and rape of Tamils in Vankalai
30 May 2006Making of a Killing Field
15 May 2006IFT Monitor
9 May 2006International Federation of Tamils writes to UN Special Rapporteur, Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions on Escalation of Extra-Judicial Killings by Sri Lanka agencies
27 April 2006International Federation of Tamils calls upon the International Community to condemn and censure Sri Lanka's war crime & gross breach of  the CFA

"..Neither party to the CFA has a right to adopt retaliatory measures. The parties must report any violation to the SLMM for appropriate action or give two weeks' notice to withdraw from the agreement. Defying this stipulation, unilaterally commencing a retaliatory attack is a gross breach of the CFA. In addition, the attack by government forces on civilian targets, causing death and extensive damage to civilian property, making people destitute is a humanitarian violation and is a war crime under Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 2 ( c ) and 2(e). International Humanitarian Law does not permit warring parties to attack civilian targets and civilian lives. The "retaliatory action" directed on civilian targets in Trincomalee-Batticaloa areas on 25-26 April are the actions of a terrorist state intent on terrorising the Tamil people into submission..."

 

18 March 2006Funding Peace & Dignity - a Response to Human Rights Watch
15 March 2006IFT Monitor
15 February 2006IFT Tamil File - News & Events in Tamil Perspective
15 January 2006IFT Monitor
15 January 2006IFT Tamil File - News & Events in Tamil Perspective
4 January 2006 Unarmed civilians need protection against a Vindictive Armed state

"This is the second urgent appeal the IFT, International Federation of Tamils is making to the IC, International Community within a week... In complete contrast to the statement made by the military spokesman on the killing of five teenage boys in Trincomalee that they were LTTE cadres killed accidentally in a blast while assembling an incendiary with an intent to attack a military installation, the autopsy made by the state medical officers on their bodies, has revealed that they were shot through their ears at a very close range....A spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Helen Olafsdottir, told BBC Sandesaya, that there was evidence that all five students had been shot in the head in a manner she described as resembling “executions.”...The IFT considers this a war declared by the Sri Lanka Government .. Unarmed civilians need protection against a vindictive armed state." more

1 January 2006Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka Looming Large Again

"...More than 920 Tamils have been arrested and detained in Colombo alone in one overnight search. Sri Lanka armed forces are descending on Tamil homes in the middle of the night, privacy of the Tamil bedrooms is trespassed, men and women, young and old, in their night-clothes are bundled up in awaiting vehicles and taken away for interrogation and detention. Although the government tells the international media that many are being released after an identity check-up, they are being arrested over and over again, and subjected to an ordeal of being fingerprinted, photographed, and videoed..."

27 December 2005Conflict in Sri Lanka: Ground Realities
15 December 2005IFT - Tamil File in PDF
6 December 2005IFT Monitor in PDF
14 March 2005International Federation of Tamils -  Appeal to UN Commission on Human Rights
10 February 2005Kousalyan, a symbol of Tamil unity

"International Federation of Tamils (IFT) strongly condemns the despicable assassinations of senior political leader and Tamil activist Mr.E.Kouslayan, together with human rights activist Mr.Chandraneru Arianayagam and two other LTTE political workers on 7th of February 2005. Killings of these unarmed political activists is a brutal and dastardly act."

"The Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT) recalling Mr. Kousalyan's address to thousands of Tamils from the Tamil diaspora in front of the United Nations Building last year, said in a press statement issued Thursday that Kausalyan was a symbol of Tamil unity. IFT appealed to International governments and donors to act decisively to prevent escalation of hostilities as it feared that continued "covert operations" will "wane the mutual trust, goodwill and confidence" between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka. IFT called upon the countries giving Sri Lanka military assistance to desist from doing so and instead to pressure them to seek a peaceful solution..."

1 October 2004Prabhakaran - A Leader for All Seasons - Glimpses of the Man behind the Leader, Published by the International Federation of Tamils
31 July 2004இடைக்கால நிர்வாக அமைப்பை பெறும் உரிமையை ஐ.நா அங்கீகரிக்க வேண்டும் - Press Release  at UN Sub Commission on the Promotion & Protection of Human Rights, 56th Sessions
24 July 2004Memorandum on the Denial of Economic, Social and Cultural rights to Tamil people in Sri Lanka at UN Sub Commission on the Promotion & Protection of Human Rights, 56th Sessions

"In February 2002, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) signed a Cease Fire Agreement (CFA)  with the support of the Royal Norwegian Government and the International Community (IC). As a result, the GoSL and the LTTE were involved in six rounds of negotiations to resolve the long-standing ethnic conflict that claimed more than eighty thousand civilian lives, mainly in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. One of the main objectives of the negotiations was to find an effective interim administrative structure to oversee the urgent humanitarian and development projects in the war affected areas of Sri Lanka. The need of an interim administrative structure in the Tamil areas was discussed at great length , and ultimately accepted by the GoSL, LTTE and the IC. Sadly, 30 months after the CFA was signed and $4.5 billion of humanitarian and development aid promised by the IC, there is at present very little progress in the economic, social and administrative conditions of the North and East of Sri Lanka."

31 March 1999Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Sri Lanka & Humanitarian Issues - Appeal to UN Commission on Human Rights  55th Session March/April, 1999 - presented by its Co-ordinating Secretary, Ponraj Anton, 31 March 1999

"...Torture and extra-judicial killings are widespread....There is a huge internal refugee population of Tamils. These gross and persistent violations cannot be dismissed as just internal matters of the state but should be the concern and responsibility of the internationalcommunity, as they clearly constitute international crimes against humanity..."

10 August 1998On the 50th Anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Towards the United Nations - Peace March
10 August 1998The building blocks for peace are the building blocks of justice - Appeal to UN  Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 50th Sessions, 1998

"Sri Lanka’s gross violations of international humanitarian law have now been rendered justiciable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Significantly, Sri Lanka refused to vote in favour of its adoption - a refusal that is not surprising, given Sri Lanka’s chilling record of crimes against humanity during the past two decades and more.Fifteen years ago, in 1983, the Sub-Commission expressed its ‘deep concern’ about the violence against the Tamil people and requested ‘the Secretary General to invite the Government of Sri Lanka to submit information on the recent communal violence in Sri Lanka, including its efforts to investigate the incidents and to promote national harmony’, and recommended ‘to the Commission on Human rights that it should examine the situation in Sri Lanka in the light of all available information.’"

8 June 1998International Federation of Tamils writes to Chief Minister Karunanithi

'...இருபத்தியோராவது நூற்றாண்டில் உலக அரங்கில் இந்தியா வகிக்கப்போகும் பங்கு அளப்பரியது..'

23 December 1997Appeal to World Leaders to lend their influential support to end the continuing torture and murder of Tamil prisoners by Sri Lanka
20 October 1997Appeal to Commonwealth Heads of Government

"On 9 April this year, at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, a record number of 53 non governmental organisations, concerned with ending the Sri Lanka-Tamil Eelam war, called for the withdrawal of Sri Lanka's occupying forces from the Tamil homeland and for the recognition of 'the right of the Tamil people to choose their own political and national status'. We urge the Commonwealth Heads of Government to extend their influential support to the call made by these non governmental organisations at the UN Commission on Human Rights."

14 August 1995Give Peace a Chance in the island of Sri Lanka - Memorandum submitted to the UN Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 47th Session, August 1995
18 November 1995An Appeal for Justice and Humanity to UK Prime Minister

"We thank you for the recent concerns that your Government has expressed and the interest that you have taken in the ongoing conflict in the island of Sri Lanka. We are particularly encouraged by the statement made by your Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs, on 6 November that the United Kingdom continues "to believe that a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka can be achieved only through a sustainable political settlement, reached through peaceful negotiation."  We are also mindful that as long ago as 9 August 1993, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office writing, on your behalf, to the Secretary of the International Federation of Tamils, declared:

"It is tragic that the fighting continues after so long. It is clearly the people of the North and East who are hardest hit. Their conditions are undoubtedly difficult. The British Government's policy is quite clear. We along with our European partners, believe the only way to achieve a lasting peace in Sri Lanka is through a negotiated, political settlement reached by all parties to the conflict. We have long urged this course of action as the only way forward to a lasting solution which recognises the rights of all the peoples of Sri Lanka. You will be aware that we have regularly said that our good offices are available to help talks start. Unfortunately negotiations are no closer.''

However, the unfortunate political reality is that during the past several years, the Sri Lanka government has consistently rejected third party involvement to help bring about a negotiated political settlement between the two parties to the armed conflict in the island. "

3 August 1994Towards a Just Peace in the Island of Sri Lanka  -  Appeal to UN  Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 46th Sessions, 1998

"..During the past eleven years the Sub-Commission has heard hundreds of statements raising grave concern at the failure to resolve the armed conflict in the island of Sri Lanka. Yet the conflict continues and innocent lives continue to be lost. The International Federation of Tamils (with constituent membership in Great Britain, United States of America, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Malaysia, Tamil Nadu, Africa and the Middle East) appeals to the Chairperson and Delegates to the 46th Sessions of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to encourage and support the path of negotiation between the parties to the armed conflict in the island of Sri Lanka, as the only way towards reconciliation and a just peace..."

15 March 1994Tamil Asylum Seeker sets himself on fire in Sweden - March 1994  

"The action of the Tamil asylum seeker in Sweden in preferring death, even by fire, to a forced deportation to Sri Lanka shows in stark terms the oppressive ground reality in Colombo and elsewhere."

10 August 1993Draft Resolution on the Situation in Sri Lanka suggested by the International Federation of Tamils at UN Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 45th Session, August 1993
9 August 1993UK Prime Minister,   Rt.Hon. John Major to the International Federation of Tamils

"I have read your analysis of the background to the conflict in Sri Lanka carefully. It is tragic that the fighting continues after so long. It is clearly the people of the North and East who are hardest hit. Their conditions are undoubtedly difficult. The British Government's policy is quite clear. We, along with our European partners, believe the only way to achieve a lasting peace in Sri Lanka is through a negotiated, political settlement reached by all parties to the conflict. We have long urged this course of action as the only way forward to a lasting solution which recognises the rights of all the peoples of Sri Lanka.You will be aware that we have regularly said that our good offices are available to help talks start. Unfortunately negotiations are no closer."

23 July 1993Remembering the July ’83 violence against the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka - Submission to to UK Prime Minister
15 February 1993On Bishop Kenneth Fernando's Peace Mission to Tamil Eelam - Memorandum circulated to delegates at UN Commission on Human Rights, 49th Sessions, February 1993
15 February 1992"Towards a Just Peace" -  An International Conference organised by the International Federation of Tamils at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
 
20 July 1991"Tamil Eelam - A Nation without a State" - International Tamil Eelam Research  Conference  organised
International Federation of Tamils  & Department of  Government, California State University, Sacramento, California, U.S.A.
15 February 1991Arial Strikes on Civilian Targets  - Memorandum circulated to Delegations at UN Commission on Human Rights, February 1991

" The military claims that it only bombs known Tamil Tiger targets but admits it uses aircraft - Sia Marchetti single engine training planes, adapted to carry two bombs underneath, Chinese Y-8s and Y-12s and British Avros, small cargo planes from which home made bombs are pushed out of the back - which do not permit accuracy. The bombs - oil drums filled with gelignite or flammable gas and rubber tubes, which stick to the skin like napalm - have no ballistic stability. 'Sometimes we ourselves are mortally afraid of where they are going to land' said an army colonel..."

 

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