India raises Sri Lankan Tamil issue in U.N.

Context

In its statement at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, India voiced concern over the “lack of measurable progress” in Sri Lanka’s promised political solution to the long-pending Tamil national question.

About Sri Lankan Tamils

• Sri Lankan Tamils are the country's largest ethnic minority.
• They account for nearly 12% of a population of 22 million, and are mainly concentrated in the northern and eastern provinces.
• The ethnic minority shares deep social, cultural and linguistic ties with people in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and has been struggling to recover from decades of a civil war that lasted until 2009 and claimed around 100,000 lives.