We are pleased to announce a federation of registered and recognized Tamil Associations around the globe. During the last several years, the Global Tamil diaspora lacked formal collaborations in order to seek justice for Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils. However, after a year-long consultation, a group of eight Tamil organizations from North America and Europe initiated this loose federation. We believe this will strengthen the Tamil diaspora in the future. The federation is planning for its first summit on July 1, 2022, in New York and will share more details regarding the summit later.
The purpose of this federation is to build a mutually beneficial network of Tamils associations and foster friendship among Global Tamil associations with similar motives. Agreeing to a few fundamentals such as recognizing Tamil Genocide, Eelam Tamil’s self-determination, and its traditional homeland, the federation now welcomes registered Tamil organizations to join by submitting the application online via https://fgto.org/join
The current constitution (https://fgto.org/bylaw) and member organization’s regular updates can be found at the website https://fgto.org/updates . The federation is registered in New York, USA, and the current registered name is Reformed Global Tamil Forum (RGTF) as it was based on the idea of providing an alternative to the failed Global Tamil Forum (GTF). Since RGTF is a federation that provides a space for several like-minded organizations to collaborate, there is the possibility for potential wide recognition to occur. Thus, discussions are underway to change the name to Federation of Global Tamil Organisations (FGTO) to better reflect its purpose.
The federation will be operated by the executives who are elected by the delegates from member organizations each year. The current executives were elected at the annual meeting on February 5, 2022
We have submitted the letter, “Protect Eelam Tamils from Genocide and Eelam Tamil’s Rights to Self-Determination” A/HRC/49/NGO/97, to United Nations via ECOSOC status ABC Tamil Oli on February 6th, 2022. The full written submission can be found on the website. The federation will focus on projects based on the following areas specified in the letter.
- An internationally conducted and monitored Referendum that allows people living in the north-eastern region of the island of Sri Lanka (Northern and Eastern province) prior to 1948 and their descendants to find a democratic, peaceful, and permanent political solution that meets Tamil people’s aspirations.
- An interim International Protection Mechanism in the north-eastern region of the island.
- The Repeal of the Sixth Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.
- The referral of the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court with respect to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and legal action against Sri Lanka before the International Court of Justice under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Convention against Torture.
The federation also submitted a letter to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) in the US on March 15, 2022, reflecting the federation’s position on the root cause of the Eelam Tamil struggle. In the letter, the federation requested TLHRC to pay attention to the “root cause of the problem: improper decolonization of the island of Ceylon in 1948, and continued by Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils to the present day. The British merger of the Island’s two sovereign peoples under one administration, in 1833, was not considered for review during the decolonization process of 1948. This led to the unitary state of Ceylon, today known as Sri Lanka. Forcibly maintaining the unitary state after decolonization has led to the genocide of the Eelam Tamils. Failing to recognize Sri Lanka’s genocide and state terrorism has been the reason for the continuous human rights violation and failures in accountability.”
“We firmly believe Tamils can not be protected under unitary Sri Lanka as the Sinhala-Buddhist government will continue to escalate genocide against Tamils. Erasing the memories is the last stage of genocide, and we believe this is the stage that Eelam Tamils are in now. While we encourage International protection mechanisms to stop or delay the genocide, we strongly request addressing the root cause by respecting the Tamils as indigenous people and they should govern themselves”. The statement can be found on our website at https://fgto.org/news
Reformed Global Tamil Forum Inc.
A federation of Global Tamil Organisations
https://fgto.org/ | (647) 875 7354
Present member organizations: Tamil American United PAC (TAUPAC), Global Tamil Movement (GTM), Ottawa Tamil Association (OTA), Quebec Tamil Development Association (QTDA), World Tamil Organization (WTO), Tamil Genocide Memorial (TGM), ABC Tamil Oli, Florida Tamil Association (FTA)
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