Sri Lanka holds one of the most documented records of journalist killings, disappearances, intimidation and exile in modern South Asia. The Tamil diaspora press is the downstream consequence. The desk preserves and points to the public record — and to the credentialed bodies that protect journalists.
Now · Aarambam
Citation-only mirror. Tier-A first: CPJ, RSF, UNESCO Observatory, OHCHR, UN HRC, UN WGEID, Article 19, Freedom House. No intake. No naming of at-risk journalists. No counts of our own.
Becoming · Nilaiththanmai
A Tamil Press Freedom Code — curated adoption of ACOS Alliance Safety Principles, Berkeley Protocol §3, the Murad Code and Dart Center trauma standards. We adopt and curate. Established partners train, equip and respond.
Historical record · cases already in the UN system
These individuals have been named by international bodies in the public record. We cite the body; we do not independently name perpetrators.
Lasantha Wickrematunge
Editor, The Sunday Leader · 8 January 2009
Cited by: UN Human Rights Committee (family-pursued)
Prageeth Eknaligoda
Cartoonist and journalist · Disappeared 24 January 2010
Cited by: UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Sivaram Dharmaratnam ("Taraki")
Tamil journalist, TamilNet · 28 April 2005
Cited by: CPJ + UNESCO Observatory
Subramaniam Sugitharajah
Trincomalee photographer (Sudar Oli) · 24 January 2006
Cited by: CPJ + UNESCO Observatory — killed after photographing the Trinco Five
Mylvaganam Nimalarajan
BBC Tamil Service correspondent, Jaffna · 19 October 2000
Cited by: CPJ + UNESCO Observatory
The full record sits with CPJ and the UNESCO Observatory of Killed Journalists. We link, we do not duplicate.
Current signals · Aarambam
OHCHR A/HRC/60/21 — "The surveillance apparatus, especially in the north and east, has remained largely intact, with minimal oversight."
HRW World Report 2026 — "Police and intelligence agencies continue to monitor and intimidate the families of victims who campaign for justice, as well as human rights defenders and other members of civil society."
RSF 2025 — Sri Lanka flagged for surveillance, the Online Safety Act 2024, and the Anti-Terrorism Bill replacing PTA.
Article 19 + Free Media Movement — repeated alerts on the Online Safety Act 2024 and the Anti-Terrorism Bill as press-freedom risks.
Freedom House TNR — Sri Lanka named in successive annual editions for diaspora-targeted intimidation.
Diaspora press — outlets, not names
The desk lists outlets and links to their public mastheads. Naming individual diaspora journalists raises their visibility to hostile state and non-state actors; that is for the outlets to do via their own pages.
The desk does not deploy protection. It curates a layered, partner-led standards stack and routes every real-world request out to a credentialed body.
L1
Standards code — Tamil Press Freedom Code
Curated adoption of ACOS Alliance Freelance Journalist Safety Principles, Berkeley Protocol §3, the Murad Code, and Dart Center journalist-trauma standards. We adopt and curate. We do not invent.
Where the diaspora can route mutual-aid donations — only to vetted journalist-safety funds, never via TLTE.
L4
Legal-defence pathway
Article 19 · Media Defence (formerly MLDI) · UK NUJ legal helpdesk · publicly-named media-defence chambers.
L5
Transnational Repression watch
Citation-only mirror of the Freedom House TNR annual report. Never an independent assertion of TNR.
L6
Diaspora editorial ethics
A Tamil-language editorial-ethics primer co-developed with JDS Germany and the UK NUJ — published ethics standards only, never op-sec.
L7
MOZI Press Continuity Vow
If a Tamil or Sri Lankan journalist is killed, disappeared or arrested, the desk surfaces only credentialed Tier-A coverage (CPJ alert, RSF alert, UNESCO entry, OHCHR statement) within 72 hours of public reporting, and routes families to CPJ Emergencies. MOZI is observational only; every flag is human-reviewed by two Archons before surfacing.
MOZI · observational layer only
Press Freedom Pulse
A passive observational layer. It mirrors what Tier-A bodies have already said in public — RSF index movement, new CPJ alerts on Sri Lanka, new UNESCO Observatory entries, OHCHR public statements mentioning press freedom, Article 19 alerts on Sri Lankan legislation.
· MOZI never produces an independent risk score.
· MOZI never names individuals.
· Two Archons sign off before any pulse item surfaces on the public desk.
· Every surfaced item links back to the originating Tier-A source.
Cited sources
Tier A · UN / UNESCO / CPJ / RSF / OHCHR / treaty body
Locked. Non-removable. Audit us against this list.
·Unmai never names a living at-risk journalist on the public desk. Outlets list their own staff on their own mastheads; we link to the outlet.
·Unmai never names a perpetrator. UN bodies and credentialed accountability organisations name; we cite them.
·Unmai never accepts intake from journalists in distress. We route to CPJ Emergencies, RSF SOS Press, Rory Peck Trust and the partner wall below.
·Unmai never aggregates killed-journalist, disappeared-journalist, exiled or arrested totals. We cite CPJ / RSF / UNESCO verbatim with date and URL.
·Unmai never publishes operational security advice on the public site. That belongs to Rory Peck Trust / ACOS Alliance / RSF Digital Security Helpdesk.
·Transnational repression framing always cites Freedom House TNR — never our own assertion.
·Velicham never produces an independent risk score, threat rating or watchlist.
Partner referral wall — non-removable
If you are a journalist at risk, the family of a journalist, an editor making a safety call, or someone supporting one — please go directly to these bodies. They are equipped. We are not.
CPJ Emergencies
Direct emergency assistance to journalists at risk.
Stable citation IDs in the tlte-cite: namespace. Each link resolves to a permanent record at docs.tlte.cloud/cite/<slug> with title, publisher, archive URL, and reuse guidance.
