The Sri Lankan army prepares for another UN peacekeeping deployment this week, at the behest of an accused war criminal and with another soldier who was convicted over gesturing death threats to Tamils at the helm, despite repeated calls to suspend all deployments of Sri Lankan troops following the release of the UN human rights chief’s damning report.  

Tamil politicians from the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have expressed their opposition to receiving the Covid-19 vaccination from military hospitals.  

Selvarajah Kajendran, a TNPF parliamentarian, said that politicians from their party will not be vaccinated at hospitals run by the Sri Lankan military, who are responsible for the genocide of the Tamil people. 

A draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka has called on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights “to consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials, as it noted the lack of accountability for mass atrocities through domestic mechanisms and called for enhanced “monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka”.

Writing in advance of the official state visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International has called on Pakistan’s leader to urge Sri Lanka to end its draconian policy of forced cremations and bring an end to the on-going discrimination faced by Muslims in Sri Lanka.

(Photos credit: HometoBilo)

The Australian Federal Court upheld an April 2020 ruling that the government’s handling of the visa application of the youngest Australian-born daughter of the Tamil family from Biloela, Tharnicaa, denied her procedural fairness. 

Following Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the $500-$700 million-dollar ECT agreement, a second deal has been scrapped as Sri Lanka has reclaimed 99 World War II-era oil storage tanks leased to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in the eastern port district of Trincomalee.

In advance of the 46th UN Human Rights Council session, a number of former UN officials and international experts have called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court; for UN member states to “to pursue justice through universal or extraterritorial jurisdiction”; and for “targeted sanctions against credibly alleged perpetrators of international crimes”.

The families of at least sixteen Tamil men that were arrested last year have expressed fears about their whereabouts and safety, after being unable to locate them following their arrest by Sri Lanka’s Terror Investigation Division (TID).

A Tamil youth has been arrested in Point Pedro, Jaffna for their participation in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) march earlier this month. 

The 26 year old who was identified by his motorbike registration number was released from Point Pedro police station after a six hour interrogation. 

Shavendra Silva seeing off Sri Lankan troops enroute UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan 

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) have called on the United Nations Peacekeeping department to suspend the deployment of Sri Lankan troops following the release of the UN human rights chief's damning report last month.