The Tamil Information Centre (TIC), established in 1981, is a non-profit community organisation based in London, UK. The TIC works to address the challenges that face the Tamil speaking community in Sri Lanka to ensure that their rights are protected and promoted and their freedoms are recognised and respected. TIC’s mission is to empower people, particularly those suffering persecution and subjected to human rights abuses, by valuing the distinct identities and differences among them and improving the quality of life through access to knowledge.
The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka affected the lives of all the people in the island and caused immense suffering to the Tamil community. The Tamil north-east region has been devastated by three decades of civil war. Despite international focus in recent years real peace has eluded the country. Within the country reconciliation efforts are superficial and vehement resistance to the promotion and protection of minority rights continues to be evident.
The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) urges the Indian authorities to show clemency for Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan who are under sentence of death in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case. The TIC acknowledges that the assassination of former Prime Indian Minister Rajiv Gandhi was a grave crime, but strongly opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by any state to end the life of the prisoner.
The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) welcomes the statement made by the Sri Lankan Minister of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday, 24 November 2011, at the Inaugural National Conference on “Reconciliation: The Way Forward for Post Conflict Sri Lankaâ€, recognizing the importance of recording civilian casualties of war in Sri Lanka. Defense Minister Rajapakse confirmed that a census is being carried out by the Department of Census and Statistics, in an effort to gather information on civilian deaths in the final battle in 2009.
The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) welcomes the 25 August announcement of President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the State of Emergency will not be extended when it comes up for renewal before the Sri Lankan Parliament in September 2011, resulting in the termination of all Emergency Regulations. The TIC, along with several civil and human rights agencies within and outside Sri Lanka, has been campaigning against this draconian national security legislation which was used to silence critics and dissenters.
Veteran Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sivanayagam, founder-editor of the popular, Jaffna based, English Weekly Saturday Review and the head of Tamil Information Centre (TIC) branch in Madras (1983-1987) passed away on Monday, 29 November, in Colombo after a long illness. He was 80. Born in Jaffna, Ceylon, in 1930 during British Colonial rule, had his secondary education at Kokuvil Hindu College and Jaffna College, in the north, devoted almost his whole life to journalism.
The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) has called on Sri Lankan government to break its silence over the details of 12,000 Tamil youths in its custody. A year on, the TIC has also called on the human rights community and, in particular, the Sri Lanka diaspora and groups, to focus their efforts to insist on the government of Sri Lanka to release the details of the detainees who have been held incommunicado detention. The government, continues to deny, refuse to confirm and actively conceals information about the fate or whereabouts of the detainees.
The proposals of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) submitted to President Mahinda Rajapakse in January 2008 have accentuated Tamil fears about the intentions of the Sri Lankan government in finding a solution to the conflict that has resulted in widespread human suffering. The APRC's actions appear to be in unison with the government's preference of a military solution rather than a negotiated political settlement.
