The UN Human Rights Council is set to discuss Sri Lanka today, where a report outlining the government’s progress in implementing previous resolutions is set to be presented.
Follow the proceedings live on our Twitter account here.
Tamil News
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A total of seven police officers, including two subinspectors, two police sergeants, two constables and a police driver have been arrested over the abduction and murder of two businessmen from Rathgama in January. A forest ranger from Walasmulla forest reserve has also been arrested in connection with the murders.
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British parliamentarians reiterated their commitment to working towards justice for the genocide committed against the Tamil people, at an event in parliament last week.
Conservative parliamentarian Robert Halfon said he would “continue the fight for justice for the Tamil people,” speaking at the event organised...
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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has called for further testing of bone samples from a mass grave site in Mannar, where the remains of over 320 people, including children, have been found so far.
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A Sri Lankan police station has begun attempts to permanently seize privately-owned land which it occupies in Jaffna.
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A Sinhalese man was arrested in possession of cannabis in Vavuniya on Friday.
The 54-year-old from Ja-Ela was found in possession of 9kg of cannabis when the Colombo-bound bus he was on was searched by police in Puliyankulam.
Police said he would be produced before court following investigations.
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Australia is set to launch a set of military exercises from Sri Lanka next week as part of the Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 (IPE-19) - Australia’s largest ever defence engagement.
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Sri Lanka’s Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) has slammed the current government for reportedly agreeing to a UN resolution at the Human Rights Council, calling it the “worst form of treachery”.
"It is absolutely shocking that the Sri Lanka government is not prepared to amend this "bogus" Resolution,” LSSP leader, Tissa Vitarana, said in a statement. “It is the worst form of treachery and no member of Parliament should condone this.”
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A Sri Lankan parliamentarian who will be a member of a delegation to be sent to the UN Human Rights Council next week, has slammed the UN human rights chief’s report on the island, calling it "an atrocious piece of writing containing lies, half lies and highly contestable statements”.
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Sri Lanka’s foreign minister declared his government has “never done anything detrimental” to the country’s military, claiming an upcoming United Nations resolution is simply an extension of one previously passed two years ago, in an effort to allay Sinhala nationalist fears this week.
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The Sri Lankan army continued with its militarisation of Tamil children in the North-East, with yet another event at a preschool in Mullaitivu this week.
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The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called on the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that Sri Lanka is given “a deadline for delivery” to implement commitments laid out in a resolution which mandates a hybrid accountability mechanism.
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Sri Lanka is one of the worst countries in the world for female participation in politics, according to data released by the United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union this week.
Data compiled by the organisations, which presents global rankings for women in the executive and parliamentary government, showed Sri Lanka ranking lower than countries such as Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Congo, amongst others.
Overall Sri Lanka ranked 183rd out of 191.
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Local government officials in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are trying to exploit property issues to pressure struggling Tamils into obtaining death certificates for their forcibly disappeared family members, former Northern Provincial Council member and minister Ananthy Sasitharan has said.
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A Sinhalese youth has been arrested for growing cannabis in a house in Vavuniya.
Special drug eradication officers operating under Vanni police said they had recovered three cannabis plants from a house in Mamadu.
A Sinhalese youth was arrested under suspicion of having grown the plants, police said.
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A UK chief magistrate has ordered a retrial of a Sri Lankan brigadier after an initial conviction was quashed on procedural grounds in London earlier today, amidst claims of Sri Lankan officials photographing witnesses involved in the case.
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The home of a well-known Tamil journalist from Mullaitivu was broken into and burgled on Tuesday, with the journalist’s work equipment including a laptop and two cameras among the items stolen.
Journalist Kumanan, who reports regularly on issues of militarisation and Sinhalisation in Mullaitivu, as well as on the campaigns of families of the...
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A draft United Nations resolution on Sri Lanka has been tabled at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling on the Office of the High Commissioner to “continue to assess progress” in implementing previous resolutions that called for a hybrid accountability mechanism for another two years.
The current draft resolution, calls for a written update on Sri Lanka in 2020 and a “a...
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The body of a Tamil man reported missing from Batticaloa was found with his hands tied in a canal on Monday.
Kanapathipillai Thirunavukkarasu, aged 62, was reported missing on Sunday and his body was found the following day in a paddy field canal, with his hands tied behind his back.
Vellaveli police said they had made two arrests in connection with his death.
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The Sri Lankan government must deliver on its promise of an internationalised justice process said Freedom from Torture (FFT) Chief Executive Sonya Sceats, in a statement released last week.
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The Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) has reiterated calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or for an ad hoc international tribunal to be set up, in order to obtain justice for violations of international law, in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council this week.
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Teachers across the North-East protested on Wednesday demanding better provisions for education.
Mirroring a campaign which took place across the island calling for the Sri Lankan government to allocate more funding for schools, teachers and school staff protested outside their schools on Wednesday morning.
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Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena blamed “human rights” for hindering discipline at schools at a speech in Matara earlier this week.Sirisena was quoted as stating that “the interference of the concept of human rights in the duty of teachers has made it a challenge for the task of building a better future generation”.
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Muslims in Mannar have continued a protest for the release of their lands from Sri Lankan navy occupation for over three weeks.
Over 200 Muslim families from Silavathurai have been campaigning for the release of 35 acres of land from the Sri Lankan Navy. The protest passed 22 days on Wednesday.
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Lawyers representing Tamil families of the disappeared in Mannar have called for “caution in place of plain speculation”, after a report dated bone fragments from a mass grave unearthed in the town.
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Families of the disappeared appealed to members of the United Nations not to grant Sri Lanka any extension on implementing a resolution it had agreed to in 2015 and instead called for an international accountability mechanism, telling member states that “our lives are in your hands”.
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A five member delegation of the Sri Lankan president is to head to Geneva in order to seek a withdrawal from the co-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council, the country's foreign affairs ministry said today.
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Residents in Unnichchai and surronding villages protested on Monday, accusing the government of failing to provide an adequate supply of clean drinking water.
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Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya, who launched a signature campaign calling for international intervention in Sri Lanka to ensure justice for Tamils, reached 100,000 signatures this week.
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Students at the University of Jaffna launched an awareness rally yesterday, demanding justice for the genocide of Tamils.
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Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) officers assaulted two Tamil youths in Karadiyanaru, Batticaloa yesterday.
World News
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The Philippines officially withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Sunday, a year after announcing that it was quitting the court.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to leave the body came after ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced in February 2018 that her office would examine the spate of extrajudicial killings that have taken place in the Philippines since Duterte came into power in 2016.
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Tens of thousands of Catalan independence supporters marched through Madrid on Saturday amid a heavy police presence, to support 12 politicians and activists standing trial for staging a banned referendum in 2017.
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US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has stated the US will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel involved in the investigation of possible war crimes committed by US forces and its allies in Afghanistan, and warned the move may go further.
Pompeo claimed the "ICC is attacking America’s rule of law,” and threatened to adopt economic sanctions if the court "does not change its course”. The Secretary of State also warned ICC officials involved in probes of...
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Political leaders from across the world have sent their condolences and condemned a mass shooting in New Zealand on Friday that has left at least 49 people dead.
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President Felix Tshisekedi has pardoned around 700 political prisoners who were jailed under his predecessor, fulfilling a promise Tshisekedi made in his first 100 days in office.
Tshisekedi, who was an opposition leader, won the 2018 election, marking the DRC’s first peaceful transfer of power since its independence from Belgium in 1960.
Earlier this month, he promised to promote justice and fight corruption in Congo. He also said that he would work to ensure the conditions to...
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The UN has verified the deaths of 530 Banunu civilians who were slain by Batende villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in December, in an attack that was carried out over three days in four villages in the west of the country, stating that it may amount to crimes against humanity.
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A militant organisation based in West Belfast has claimed responsibility for recent letter bombs sent to buildings in London and the University of Glasgow. British police have reported the group claimed to be operating on behalf of the IRA.
The incident comes as the Brexit debate on the Irish backstop has fuelled calls for Irish reunification.
Last month Sinn Féin said a no-deal Brexit would inevitably lead to a vote on the independence of Northern Ireland from the UK and the...
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There has been some progression is charging perpetrators of war crimes in Syria, Catherine Marchi-Uhel, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) told reporters this week.
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Calls for the current Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, to resign have continued today following her remarks this week stating that killings by British soldiers during the Troubles were not a real crime, but were the actions of people “fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way”.
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The US State Department has imposed sanctions on six security officials within Nichola Maduro’s government who were associated with obstructing “the entry of international aid” and threatening “violence against those who attempted to deliver this assistance”.
The State Department further maintained its support for Juan Guaido, the partially recognised interim president of Venezuela.
Maduro's supporters have condemned US offer of humanitarian aid however, as a cover for regime...
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The US State Department this month issued a statement maintaining the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK’s) designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
"Today’s actions notify the U.S. public and the international community that the PKK remains a terrorist organization. In addition to its continued status as an FTO, the PKK has also been designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 since 2001," the State Department said in its statement. ...
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The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded Israeli troops may have committed war crimes during the Gaza protests dubbed as the “Great March of Return”.
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A delegation of Namibian lawmakers are currently in Berlin pushing the German government to reconcile with a genocide it committed against the Nama and Herero people (also known as Ovaherero) people of Namibia over a 100 years ago.
The lawmakers hope to reach a resolution with the German government based on the 1989 parliament resolution which stated it would accept historical and political responsibility for Namibia.
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Tens of thousands took to the streets of France last week to protest recent anti-Semitic attacks, denouncing hate crimes with placards “fraternity” and “exit hatred”.
France which is home to the biggest Jewish population in Europe has recently seen a rise in anti-Jewish attacks. The French government said that anti-Semitism is “spreading like poison” in France.
The most recent attack occurred on Monday when a Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim in Alsace was targeted overnight....
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Pakistan has claimed responsibility for shooting down two Indian air force jets and is holding an Indian pilot in custody.
The attack follows escalating tensions between the two nations. On February 14, the Pakistan based militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) conducted a suicide attack which killed 40 Indian security personnel in the Indian controlled region of Kashmir. In response, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted a targeted air strike on a militant camp near Balakot in...
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The United Kingdom last week added the political wing of Hezbollah to its list of terrorist organisations, meaning that those found to either be a member of or supporter of Hezbollah will face criminal prosecution with up to ten years in prison.
The move is a shift from Britain’s previous policy, under which the military wing was criminalised following a ban on the military wing which came into force in 2008, but diplomats would negotiate with political members.
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The United Nations’ highest court has ruled the British occupation of the Chagos Islands is illegal, in what has been described as a humiliating blow to the UK’s prestige on the world stage.
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A UN panel of experts is demanding an inquiry into allegations of police violence, unlawful arrests and torture in Indonesia after a video was released showing police interrogating a young West Papua boy with a snake.
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A number of prominent Indian rights activists have withdrawn support from Amnesty International over allegations of caste-based discrimination and harassment. These include Dalit rights activists, Radhika Vemula and Chandrasekhar Azad, as well as women’s rights campaigner Mariya Salim who had worked for Amnesty.
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After two days of talks, the warring parties in Yemen have finalised a deal on the first phase of the pullback of forces from the city of Hodeidah.
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Britain’s international relations select committee has published a damning report concluding that the UK’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful and called for some sales to be halted.
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A suicide bombing in Kashmir killed almost 40 Indian policemen on Thursday, with India's prime minister pledging those behind the attack will pay a "very heavy price".
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The UN warned this week grains stored in the Red Sea Mills Silos in western Hodeida is at risk of rotting.
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Scott Morrison, Australia’s Prime Minister, has said that the Australian government would reopen its Christmas Island detention centre, after suffering a historic defeat in Parliament over a medical evacuations bill.
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The Cameroon government accuses separatists of setting a hospital on fire and killing four people.
In a press release, the Minister of Communication and government spokesperson Rene Sadi stated, "the fire incident in Kumba District Hospital was committed by close to 20 secessionists rebels”.
Separatists have rejected this assertion, stating on social media that they are "not responsible for the fire incident in the hospital”. They hold the government responsible and further...
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Amnesty International has found Myanmar’s forces are again shelling villages and blocking civilians from accessing food and humanitarian assistance in its battle against the Arakan Army, who are fighting for more autonomy in the Rakhine state.
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Tens of thousands of Spanish nationalists took to the streets in Madrid on Saturday ahead of a proposed meeting between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Catalan separatists.
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A hospital in the Venezuelan city of Barcelona has reported that 14 children have died due to an outbreak a form of dysentery this week, as the political crisis in the country continues with two men claiming to be the country’s rightful president.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro warned against US military intervention last week after US National Security Adviser John Bolton was pictured with a notepad signifying “5,000 thousand troops to Colombia”.
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Nepal on Wednesday extended its war crimes investigation for the third time, by passing an amendment on the Transitional Justice Act granting a one-year extension.
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A British parliamentary committee has called for an end to indefinite detention in immigration centres and for detention to be authorised independently of the Home Office.
According to the Guardian, around 27,000 people a year are detained in connection with immigration and are usually held without being given a date for release or deportation.
“Indefinite detention causes distress and anxiety. [It] can trigger mental illness and exacerbate mental health conditions,” a highly...