During the final months of Sri Lanka's civil war, the island nation's government barred the media and other observers from entering the war zone. As a result, first-hand accounts of the conditions facing the hundreds of thousands of Tamils forced to flee their homes, and later interned in internally displaced peoples (IDP) camps, were practically non-existent. But on the ground during the final weeks of intense fighting was Denise Otis, a Canadian employed at the Montreal office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. After 15 years representing mostly asylum seekers before the Immigration and Refugee Board, Ms. Otis joined the UNHCR as a legal officer in 2004. Eager for field experience, Ms. Otis volunteered for the UNHCR's emergency roster team, and after some training in Sweden, spent May and June among Sri Lanka's internally displaced Tamils.
Our Crusade for Peace and Justice will officially begin today ( 15th August 2009 ) with the national launch in 5 major states in Australia said an official close to Australian Tamil Congress. Australian Tamil Congress, the unified voice of Australian tamils will be launched in New South Wales , Queensland, South Australia , Victoria and South Australia by Australian Tamil Intellectuals. Sen. Mark Furner will be the Chief Guest for the launch in Queensland, organisers said. On behalf of the Australian Tamil Congress, we invite you to join us and work with us to bring lasting justice and peace to our people in Sri Lanka. This work must start today; it cannot wait until tomorrow. Please join with us and make a difference and we shall rise from the ashes like the phoenix, a statement from ATC said.
The Age and The Australian reported about 77 asylum seekers arriving Australia and full text of the next report is below. Sri Lankan Tamil Community Leaders in Australia for media comment on this incident can be arranged via
.
Beside a green lagoon on Sri Lanka's northeastern coast, on a sandy spit of land less than 8 miles long, violence reportedly erupted 9-10 May as military soldiers clashed with rebel Tamil Tigers.Now, a detailed AAAS assessment of high-resolution satellite images seems to confirm descriptions of intense fighting within Sri Lanka's "no-fire zone"—revealing a landscape scarred by freshly dug graves and artillery explosions.By 6 May 2009, numberous probable internally displaced persons structures are present in this image, along with a graveyard (outlined in red), containing an estimated 195 burials.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Sri Lanka James Moore met with 16 representatives of U.S.-based organizations representing members of the Tamil diaspora to discuss the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka and prospects for political reconciliation, the US Sate Department said in a release.
Australian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Ms. Kathy Klugman Tuesday (11th Aug 2009) morning paid a courtesy call on new Commander of the Sri Lankan Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya at his office in the Army Headquarters, Colombo capital news reports said. Currently three australian Tamils inclding a blind woman, a 62-year old man and two women aged 26 and 29 are detained in Sri Lankan concentration camps and it is not clear whether Ms. Kathy Klugman sought help from Jagath Jayasuriya for their release.
The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil Associations in Australia and New Zealand would like to draw the attention of the International Community (IC) to the outcome of the local council elections held in northern Sri Lanka that stands a testimony to their quest for self-rule in the Tamil homeland. Sri Lanka rushed through elections for local councils in two major towns in the Northern Province, within 3 months of their militarily defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Under Sri Lankan army occupation, certainly, normalcy in the battle-scarred north is a long way off.
In the first local elections in 11 years in two towns in northern Sri Lanka, a political party that supported the Tamil Tiger insurgency made a strong showing on Saturday, one day after the rebel group’s new leader was captured. According to the BBC, voter turnout was just 20 percent in the town of Jaffna, and 52 percent in Vavuniya, both of which were controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.) for years and are now underpopulated, since the government has not yet given more than 250,000 ethnic Tamils permission to leave internment camps and return home.
Seran Sribalan and Vishna Sivaraj, two young Australians walking 300km from Sydney to Canberra to raise awareness of the plight of 300,000 civilians being forcibly detained in military controlled internment camps in the island of Sri Lanka, have completed the first 10%of the distance they are to cover.
Ground-breaking technology is being used for a world-first ‘green’ Australian air conditioning system, which is expected to be up to twelve times more power efficient than the traditional systems currently in use. This work is taking place under the Australian Government’s $75 million Climate Ready program, which offers matching grants to industry of up to $5 million to help develop innovative solutions to climate change.The privately-owned Australian company, Air Change, is receiving a grant of over $400,000 to build the new system, dubbed ‘The Green Machine’.
A 33-year-old Malaysian woman will face Perth Magistrates Court today charged with importing drugs concealed inside her body. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped the female passenger when she arrived at Perth International Airport on a flight from Malaysia on Friday 7 August. During baggage examinations officers became suspicious that she may have been concealing drugs internally. The matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police and the woman was taken to hospital for a medical examination.
Media Release | 10.08.2009 The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella organisation of peak Tamil Associations in Australia and New Zealand condemns in the strongest terms, the manner in which Mr. Selvarasas Pathmanathan has been seized in Malaysia and taken to Sri Lanka for interrogation by the Sri Lankan security agents. AFTA considers the abduction and transfer of Mr. Pathmanathan to Colombo as an act of Extraordinary Rendition. Tamil Diaspora is gravely concerned that if this dastardly act goes unchecked, no Tamil would be safe in any part of the world.
India Government in a bid to strengthen its power base in Indian Ocean, won a coastal surveillance project in Sri Lanka via Barnas International Private Limited, security analysts said. Barnas International Private Limited, which has bagged a 30 million Sri Lankan rupee contract to provide surveillance solutions in the Sri Lankan capital, will also take up similar projects in the island's northern regions that had recently been wrested from the LTTE, company sources here told to an indian media.
Palitha Kohona, a former senior public servant in the Australian Federal government, currently the secretary to the Sri Lankan ministry of foreign affairs serving the terrorist State of Sri Lanka in an interview with the July issue of Himal, South Asian says: "We make sure that they (the Tamil IDPs) get three meals a day which is costing us more than a million dollars a day and medical care (232 doctors have been sent to look after them). Now, 40,000 of the children who came out of the LTTE areas attend school". What a five star luxury short of Champagne and Caviar they afford to the Tamils they claim to have liberated now with breakfast: bread and lentil, lunch: boiled rice and coconut sambal and dinner: coconut Sambal and boiled rice. What more do they want. This is good enough for the Tamils. This is what President Rajapakse meant by "liberation" with the Tamils paying the price for their freedom: from hunger, privation and liberty.
News
Our Crusade for Peace and Justice will officially begin today ( 15th August 2009 ) with the national launch in 5 major states in Australia said an official close to Australian Tamil Congress. Australian Tamil Congress, the unified voice of Australian tamils will be launched in New South Wales , Queensland, South Australia , Victoria and South Australia by Australian Tamil Intellectuals. Sen. Mark Furner will be the Chief Guest for the launch in Queensland, organisers said. On behalf of the Australian Tamil Congress, we invite you to join us and work with us to bring lasting justice and peace to our people in Sri Lanka. This work must start today; it cannot wait until tomorrow. Please join with us and make a difference and we shall rise from the ashes like the phoenix, a statement from ATC said.
Australian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Ms. Kathy Klugman Tuesday (11th Aug 2009) morning paid a courtesy call on new Commander of the Sri Lankan Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya at his office in the Army Headquarters, Colombo capital news reports said. Currently three australian Tamils inclding a blind woman, a 62-year old man and two women aged 26 and 29 are detained in Sri Lankan concentration camps and it is not clear whether Ms. Kathy Klugman sought help from Jagath Jayasuriya for their release. 
The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil Associations in Australia and New Zealand would like to draw the attention of the International Community (IC) to the outcome of the local council elections held in northern Sri Lanka that stands a testimony to their quest for self-rule in the Tamil homeland. Sri Lanka rushed through elections for local councils in two major towns in the Northern Province, within 3 months of their militarily defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Under Sri Lankan army occupation, certainly, normalcy in the battle-scarred north is a long way off. 
India Government in a bid to strengthen its power base in Indian Ocean, won a coastal surveillance project in Sri Lanka via Barnas International Private Limited, security analysts said. Barnas International Private Limited, which has bagged a 30 million Sri Lankan rupee contract to provide surveillance solutions in the Sri Lankan capital, will also take up similar projects in the island's northern regions that had recently been wrested from the LTTE, company sources here told to an indian media. 
