Lee Kuan Yew said of the movement 
Virginia Judge, who visited the North East area noted that in a three year period Tamils had developed a virtual state within a state. She has stated she supports a genuine federal Tamil Eelam that guarantees the right of the Tamil minority to autonomy so their culture is protected and they enjoy full economic and political rights. She has voiced support to a federal structure with equity and self determination for the Tamil people. The MP John Murphy stated that the targeting of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Government's forces in airstrikes "clearly demonstrates that it does not regard the Tamil people to be part of its population." It strengthened his support for the Tamil people's case for self determination. In 2008, he handed a petition of 4000 signatories to the Australian House of Representatives accusing the Government of Sri Lanka of being guilty of the crime of genocide, supporting the Tamil right to self-determination.

A 1981 resolution adopted by the US Massachusetts House of Representatives called for the restoration and reconstitution of the separate sovereign state of Tamil Eelam, supporting the right to self-determination of the Tamils of Eelam.

The ANC of the Government of South Africa, noting in January 2009 that the continued conflict on the island has been cited on international monitoring mechanisms as reaching genocidal proportions described the conflict as a liberation war between the Tamil Tigers for self determination and the Sri Lankan Government that had led to the deaths of thousands of lives, and called for an end to hostilities and a political solution. Willis Mchunu of the state legislature of KwaZulu-Natal condemned the genocide of Tamils and expressed support to the Tamil struggle for freedom. Mtandeni Dlungwana, leader of the province's branch of the African National Congress Youth League stated they were fully backing the Tamil Eelam struggle. 

Scholar and activist Noam Chomsky, in a February 2009 interview, said of the Tamil Eelam struggle: "Parts of Europe, for example, are moving towards more federal arrangements. In Spain, for example, Catalonia by now has a high degree of autonomy within the Spanish state. The Basque Country also has a high degree of autonomy. In England, Wales and Scotland in the United Kingdom are moving towards a form of autonomy and self-determination and I think there are similar developments throughout Europe. Though they're mixed with a lot of pros and cons, but by and large I think it is a generally healthy development. I mean, the people have different interests, different cultural backgrounds, different concerns, and there should be special arrangements to allow them to pursue their special interests and concerns in harmony with others."

In a September 2009 submitted Sri Lankan Crisis Statement, Chomsky was one of several signatories calling for full access to internment camps holding Tamils, the respect of international law concerning prisoners of war and media freedom, the condemnation of discrimination against Tamils by the state since independence from Britain, and to urge the international community to support and facilitate a political solution that addresses the self-determination aspirations of Tamils and protection of the human rights of all Sri Lankans. A major offensive against the Tamils in the Vanni region of their homeland in 2009 resulted in the deaths of at least 20,000 Tamil civilians in 5 months, amid widespread concerns war crimes were committed against the Tamil population. At a United Nations forum on R2P, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine established by the UN in 2005, Chomsky said: 

..."What happened in Sri Lanka was a major Rwanda-like atrocity, in a different scale, where the West didn't care. There was plenty of early warning. This [conflict] has been going on for years and decades. Plenty of things could have been done [to prevent it]. But there was not enough interest."
Chomsky was responding to a question that referred to Jan Egeland, former head of the UN's Humanitarian Affairs' earlier statement that R2P was a failure in Sri Lanka.


Support for regional autonomy
Tamil National Alliance's Manifesto and policies
Development
Others