The Tamil diaspora and support for the LTTE

Part Two of Human Rights Watch Report on LTTE extortion of Tamil diaspora

Continue from 15/03/2006

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam subject Sri Lankan Tamils living in Canada, the United Kingdom and other Western countries to intimidation, extortion and even violence to ensure a steady flow of funds for operations in Sri Lanka and to suppress criticism of human rights abuses, said Human Rights Watch in a new report released Tuesday.

The 45-page report, Funding the 'Final War:' LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora, details how representatives of the LTTE and pro-LTTE groups use unlawful pressure among Tamil communities in the West to secure financial pledges. The Daily News is serialising the report.

REPORT: Beginning in 1983, the effects of the war, prompted hundreds of thousands of Tamils to flee Sri Lanka. As of 2001, the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora was estimated at 600,000-800,000, accounting for approximately one-quarter of the global Sri Lankan Tamil population. The majority of Sri Lankan Tamils are found in Western Europe, India, Australia, and North America.

The largest numbers are found in Canada (approximately 200,000-250,000), India (approximately 150,000), U.K. (approximately 110,000), Germany (approximately 50,000), Switzerland, France, and Australia (each approximately 30,000).

Between 1996 and 2001, Canada's Tamil community grew by 38 percent, making it the country's fastest growing ethnic population. The vast majority of Canadian Tamils live in the Toronto area, creating a larger urban Tamil population than is found in any city in Sri Lanka itself.

As Tamils settled abroad, particularly in areas with high Tamil concentrations such as in Toronto or London, they established a range of Tamil institutions and organizations, including Tamil-owned businesses, media, religious temples and churches, and cultural, political, and service organizations, including agencies that help new arrivals to find housing or employment.

To ensure both political and financial support, the LTTE sought and gained influence or control over many of these institutions. One Toronto Tamil remarked, Whatever is happening in the Tamil community, they make sure their agenda is there.

The growing diaspora also became an important source of income for the LTTE. Many Tamils had suffered or witnessed abuses by Sri Lankan security forces, and gladly sent funds to support the LTTE's war against the government. They saw the LTTE as a legitimate representative of the Tamil people and their interests.

By the 1990s, a steady income stream flowed from the diaspora to the LTTE. By the mid-1990s, some experts believed that 80 to 90 percent of the LTTE's military budget came from overseas sources, including both diaspora contributions and income from international investments and businesses.

The exact amount of funds is impossible to determine. For example, various sources estimated the amount of money flowing from the Canadian diaspora to the LTTE in the late 1990s at anywhere between Cdn$1 million and more than Cdn$12 million a year.

Funds were raised through a variety of means, such as collections at Hindu temples and public events, including annual Heroes Day celebrations that honour LTTE martyrs.

In most countries with a significant Tamil diaspora, Tamils established charitable organizations to raise funds for Tamil causes. These included the World Tamil Movement, British Tamil Association, and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, among others.

Although the charities solicited funds to assist civilians affected by the war, numerous inquiries, including investigations by Canadian intelligence, have found that a significant amount of the funds raised were channelled to the LTTE for its military operations.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) concluded in 2000 that at least eight non-profit organizations and five companies were operating in Canada as fronts for the LTTE.

The LTTE and its front organizations also sought contributions by directly soliciting individuals at their homes and places of business.

Human Rights Watch spoke to a Tamil who worked as a volunteer for the LTTE in London for several years in the late 1990s, going from house to house on Sundays in neighbourhoods where Tamils were concentrated to collect money.

He and other volunteers would often offer families pro-Tiger newspapers or books as an enticement to give.

The former volunteer said that every month the regional head for the LTTE would meet with the volunteers to give a target for that month's fundraising. The instructions were often quite explicit about the funds' intended purpose.

He told Human Rights Watch: Sometimes they would say they want to form something, like a military battalion, or that they want to buy arms or an armed vehicle. They were upfront about buying weapons.

The LTTE maintained computer records to keep track of individuals who contributed, including their addresses and telephone numbers. The former volunteer in London told Human Rights Watch, if families didn't give money, we would keep visiting them.

We would tell them we would come back next month. In addition to the monthly targets, once a year the LTTE would raise money for a special project, asking members of the Tamil community for larger amounts Sterling 200-250 (U.S.$350-430) per family, and up to Sterling 2,000 (U.S.$3,500) from businesses.

To ensure a regular flow of income, the LTTE sought pledges of regular monthly contributions from Tamil families. In London in the late 1990s, approximately 1,000 individuals reportedly were paying regular contributions of Sterling 10, 20, or 30 per month to support the London LTTE office.

Monthly pledges were encouraged in Canada and other countries as well. By the early 2000s, the system had become more sophisticated, and fundraisers in Toronto asked Tamils to sign forms authorizing automatic monthly bank transfers from their bank accounts.

Such automatic transfers ensured regular payments to the LTTE and relieved volunteers of making repeated visits to Tamil homes to collect pledges.

In the U.K., Canada, and elsewhere, the LTTE also used its computer database, public records, and information from supporters to keep close track of Tamils in the community, including new arrivals. One Toronto woman moved three times within Toronto.

Each time, they came to visit within a month or two.The U.K. government officially designated the LTTE as a terrorist organization in 2001, forcing the LTTE to shut down its London office.

The terrorist designation and global focus on anti-terror initiatives following the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. made many individuals more reluctant to give funds to the LTTE or its front groups.

The rate of contributions was also affected by the February 2002 ceasefire agreement signed by the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government: with a halt in active hostilities, many in the Tamil diaspora no longer perceived a pressing need to contribute to the LTTE.

Fundraising activity continued, however, and according to some accounts, became more aggressive to compensate for individuals' increasing reluctance to give.