Image by Chrissie via Flickr
by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
October 25, 2020
Years ago, I had an opportunity to watch the dissection of a seabird. It was not an academic venture, but one of bearing witness to the devastation that industrial society has brought to countless species on our planet. The bird’s stomach contents revealed human detritus of all manner, plastic lighters, bottle caps, pens, even a spoon.
Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr
by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
November 19, 2013
Hypocrisy, the most protected of vices.
— Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673
Last week a little more was learned as to the circumventions in Whitehall and Washington delaying the publication of the findings of Sir John Chilcot’s marathon Inquiry into the background of the Iraq invasion.
by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
July 31, 2013
Image by Vertigogen via Flickr
“Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?” (Bob Dylan, b: 1941)
Figures just obtained by the BBC under a Freedom of Information request, show that last year the UK Home Office identified nearly one hundred suspected war criminals, the majority of cases believed to be already having been living in the UK for a number of years. (i)
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.tamilsforum.com
December 8, 2012
Image by Shahin Shahablou @ Eyes on Rights via Flickr
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
8 December 2012
Sri Lanka is descending towards a lawless State – Global Tamil Forum
Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly deplores the attack, by members of the Sri Lankan security forces on Jaffna University students staging a peaceful protest, on Wednesday November 28th and calls for the immediate release of four Tamil students subsequently arrested by the Terrorism Investigative Division (TID) on trumped-up charges and remain in custody.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
November 17, 2012
(November 17, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) I wrote in the UK Guardian on 30 May 2009, eleven days after the tragic end of the war titled ‘The ÚN has failed the Tamils’ where I referred to and identified many of the failings and weaknesses now being acknowledged after an internal inquiry within the UN, three and half years later. If I had known all of these then and during the war, it begs the question why an international body which was formed fundamentally to protect humanity didn’t know or did it know and failed to act?
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
28 April 2012
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
28 April 2012
Global Tamil Forum stands in solidarity with the Muslims in Sri Lanka
Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly condemns the Sri Lankan Government’s complicity in the orders for the removal of the Muslim mosque in Dambulla, central Sri Lanka. GTF is profoundly disturbed by the attacks on the mosque by a minority, yet in their thousands as reported, of extremist Sri Lankan Buddhists led by monks on 20 April 2012, calling for its destruction claiming it was constructed illegally.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
24 March 2012
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
24 March 2012
Global Tamil Forum on UN resolution on Sri Lanka
Global Tamil Forum (GTF) commends the passing of the UN resolution on Sri Lanka, at the current Human Rights Council (HRC) session in Geneva, as a crucial first step towards accountability and justice for victims on the island. Tamils all over the world are thankful to the United States for spearheading the initiative and to all those who have made this first meaningful step possible.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
3 March 2012
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
3 March 2012
A true international effort, with the backing of key regional Governments, will bring real accountability for war crimes and reconciliation between communities in the island of Sri Lanka.
The United Nations Human Rights Council which is in session in Geneva right now presents a great opportunity for the international community to address the issues of accountability, for the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by both sides during the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
14 January 2012
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
14 January 2012
Global Tamil Forum on Government of Sri Lanka and Tamil National Alliance ‘Talks’
In the history of political societies, there are times, which come very rarely, when individuals, groups, organisations and peoples in general within it are required to shed their differences and connect one with another, united to repel the aggressive forces threatening their existence in order to promote the general good of society. Continue reading
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
24 December 2011
Issued for immediate release
PRESS STATEMENT
24 December 2011
Global Tamil Forum on LLRC
Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the long delayed publication of the ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ (LLRC) report. Its findings only serve to emphasise the importance of establishing an international, independent accountability mechanism to investigate whether Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) breached any international law, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the last months of the war.
Sent to DS from Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
Sept. 30, 2011
Press Release
September 30, 2011
As a Member of Parliament to Barrie, I was proud to host the screening of the UK Channel 4 – “Sri Lanka’s Killing Field” documentary in the Canadian Parliament on Wednesday, September 28th.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Human Rights Watch and my fellow colleagues NDP’s Rathika Sitsabaiesan and Liberal’s John McKay for co-hosting the event with me.
Continue reading
Image via Wikipedia
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
maranuk on Jun 14, 2011
Channel 4’s film addressed a crime of omission as well — the failure of the international community to effectively protest against the treatment of civilians in the closing stages of the civil war. It began with the withdrawal of the United Nations from Kilinochchi, the Tamil capital in the north, after the Sri Lankan government had announced that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the UN mission, a move interpreted here as a premeditated plan to remove inconvenient witnesses. What followed was a lethal kind of kettling, as Tamil civilians found themselves squeezed between the ruthlessness of their own soldiers (who weren’t above using them as a human shield) and the aggression of the Sri Lankan army. The “no fire zones” turned out to be a bloody joke, being repeatedly shelled. And the Tamils’ makeshift hospitals were hit so frequently that they eventually asked the Red Cross not to pass on their GPS co-ordinates to the other side, fearing that they were being used for targeting rather than avoidance.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
7 July, 2011
Issued for Immediate Release
PRESS STATEMENT
July 6th 2011
TAMIL APPG AND GLOBAL TAMIL FORUM PARLIAMENTARY RECEPTION RALLIES SUPPORT FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE IN SRI LANKA
A packed reception in the British Parliament on July 5th highlighted the level of support amongst parliamentarians and key decision-makers for truth, accountability and justice in Sri Lanka.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
7 May, 2011
Issued for Immediate Release
As part of bringing awareness to the current plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the wider engagement of governments around the world, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) met with senior civil servants at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, yesterday.
Mr. Andrew Patrick, Director for South Asia, Deputy Director William Middleton and Ms. Christine McNeill, the Head of Sri Lanka Desk at the FCO were met by the GTF delegation lead by its President Rev. Father S.J.Emmanuel, members of British Tamils Forum (BTF), British Tamil Conservatives (BTC) and Tamils for Labour.
by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
29 March, 2011
Global Tamil Forum met with US Assistant Secretary Blake as it continues to engage the Global community to bring focus to the resolution of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The GTF delegation lead by its President, Rev. Father S.J.Emmanuel (Germany) included President of the USTPAC, Dr. Elias Jeyarajah, Mrs. Grace Williams (USA) and Suren Surendiran (UK).
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