MUMBAI: The BBC's Tamil service, Thamizhosai (Voice of Tamil) is to broadcast a new 20-part series on human rights situation in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

The new radio series Maanudam Vellum (Humanity Will win), which is part of the BBC's "I have a right to…'' series, broadcast in various languages, will start on August 3 and will go on air every Saturday as part of the BBC Tamizhosai programming, according to an official release.

To prepare the series, BBC Tamizhosai producer Sampath Kumar visited the war torn Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu earlier this summer. Sampath Kumar looks at a cross-section of the population in both regions - the refugees living in Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu camps, friends and relatives of the victims of war, parents of the children conscripted by rebels, human rights activists and others.

The series also includes exclusive interviews with Tamil Tigers leaders Karikalan and SP Tamilselvan where they speak about the human rights situation in the war torn North and East of Sri Lanka and the charges against Tigers' own human rights record.

In Tamil Nadu, the series discusses cases of human rights violations in the recent past and contemporary issues such as discrimination against Dalits in some southern districts, the controversy around capital punishment and cases of custodial torture and rape

Says Thirumalai Manivannan, editor of BBC Thamizhosai: "This is the first time in recent years that a Tamil journalist has gone so extensively into the war torn north and east of Sri Lanka and reported on the human rights conditions there."

The "Maanudam Vellum" - Humanity will win - series seeks to raise awareness of human rights issues and to tell people how they can make a difference to the human rights situation where they are.