Ban on influential Tamil diaspora outfits lifted

A ban on six international Tamil organisations and 316 persons has been lifted by the Sri Lankan government. The names of the organsations have been gazetted by the Defence Ministry.
The ban had been imposed under United Nations Act No 45 of 1968

However, a ban on several other organisations including the LTTE and several others remain. Among the other organisations which the ban remains are the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation, Tamil Coordinating Committee, World Tamil Movement,  Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, World Tamil Relief Fund, and National Thowheed Jama’ath, Jama’athe Milla’ath Ibrahim National Council of Canadian Tamil and Tamil Youth Organisation.

The names of the organization and the reasons for the proscription have been included in the gazetted. In a similar manner the names of the individual persons and the offences against them too have been gazetted.

Meanwhile, The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) in a statement welcomed the delisting of many Tamil diaspora organisations and individuals saying that it was an important step towards achieving improved ethnic relations and economic outcomes. 
 
The statement also called on the Sri Lankan government to discontinue with it “shambolic process of listing and delisting to suit the political agenda of the time.” The organisation added that it is particularly alarming that many Muslim organisations and individuals have been added to the updated list gazetted on August 1, 2022.
  
“The entire process of publishing a list of designated entities and individuals by the Sri Lankan government was arbitrary, irrational, and an outright abuse of the United Nations Regulations – aimed at suppressing freedom of speech and dissent, not just within Sri Lanka but also across the borders,” the GTF claimed, noting that the GTF too found itself in and out of this ‘list’ on four occasions. 

The statement also called on members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to pass a stronger resolution on Sri Lanka at the upcoming UNHRC session in September as the country “is yet to take a single meaningful initiative that would have provided effective relief and closure for those directly impacted by the war.”