Renuga Inpakumar

DTP alumna Renuga Inpakumar is a young Australian human rights defender and 3rd year law student who is passionate about Tamil refugee rights and the rights of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community members in Australia. Renuga is also a spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Refugee Council, where she began to volunteer at the age of 10.

Renuga’s parents are Tamils who are from the northeast of Sri Lanka and fled the country due to Sri Lanka’s indiscriminate killings of Tamils that were occurring on the island. They were accepted as refugees by Australia, but have continued to work to highlight the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the rights of Tamil refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. According to the 2016 census, more than 27,000 Tamil people born in Sri Lanka now live in Australia, arriving as refugees, skilled migrants and students. Some have arrived seeking asylum and experienced detention and restrictions on access to health, work, and education. This has motivated Renuga to focus on advocating for the rights of Tamil refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.

Renuga participated in two DTP trainings. Her first DTP training in February 2023 was a special two-day DTP human rights advocacy workshop for diaspora migrant and refugee community leaders in Sydney, organised in partnership with the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS). Renuga also completed a DTP training on child rights advocacy.

Participating in DTP training was a life-changer for me. Before the DTP training, I was sceptical about the UN. However, after watching the documentary ‘The Diplomat,’ featuring DTP’s co-founder José Ramos-Horta’s international campaign for the independence of his homeland East Timor and how he maneuvered various UN mechanisms to support his cause, it left a lasting impact on me. I now know that I have to have a sound strategy and allies to be impactful in using the UN in advocacy upholding the rights of the Tamil people.

The DTP-STARTTS training included a session on how to effectively engage Australian politicians. Renuga singled out this session as hugely beneficial for her advocacy, and meetings with parliamentarians in Canberra.

I used the insights from Lynda’s DTP-STARTTS training session, where she emphasised preparation and conducting background research and presenting concise briefs containing facts and recommendations. I emailed at least 20 parliamentarians and managed to meet a few. Thanks to the DTP training I realised it wasn’t enough to simply meet people, I needed a well-thought-out plan, as part of our longer strategy.

Following the meetings, one of the MPs publicly acknowledged the genocide against Tamils in Parliament.

It was an unprecedented moment. She also read a refugee’s speech that had been provided during our meeting, further amplifying our cause. Our thorough planning enabled us to achieve significant milestones in our advocacy efforts.

While Renuga continues her law degree she now also volunteers for the DTP Secretariat in Sydney.