The UK revealed today that it intends to present a new resolution "promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka" at the 46^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) later this month.

Responding to the thousands of Tamils marching from Puttvil to Polikandy, Human Rights Watch has called on UNHRC council members to heed victim demands and “pass a strong resolution to advance accountability and deter the government from committing further abuses”.

HRW highlights that amongst the demonstrators are Families of the Disappeared, who in defiance of court bans, have launched protests and hunger strikes demanding to know what happened to their loved ones. 

Sri Lanka's prime minister and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed the five day long protest rally that took place across the Tamil homeland this week, claiming it was "trying to divide the country”.

"Those who are now agitating against the government remained mum during the Yahapalanaya regime, which heaped unbearable burdens on the masses,” said Rajapaksa in comments reported by The Island.

^{Sarath Weerasekara} 

Sri Lanka's public security minister Sarath Weerasekara claimed that his regime is about to file cases against the tens of thousand of Tamil protestors who marched through the North-East in recent days, adding that Tamil politicians who attended needed to have been tear gassed and arrested.

Weerasekara, a former Sri Lankan Navy admiral, was speaking on a Hiru TV, when asked how he will deal with the Tamils and Muslims who took part in the peaceful protest he responded.

Britain’s High Commission in Sri Lanka announced that the English cricket team would be taking questions from the public as they embarked on a controversial tour of the island. Despite hundreds of questions flooding in through Twitter and Instagram, none were answered.

Swiss Tamils organised a socially distanced car rally in three cities this weekend, to highlight their solidarity with the Pottuvil to Polikandi (P2P) protestors who marched across the Tamil homeland.

Hundreds of cars took part in multiple car rallies across Switzerland, with cars being seen in Geneva, Bern and Zurich.

This week Tamils and Muslims across the homeland united in a march for justice, calling on the international community act to protect their rights. The protests which have been extended due to disturbances caused by Sri Lanka’s security forces took place from Pottuvil in Amparai to Polikandy in Jaffna.

Despite intimidation from Sri Lankan security forces and bans imposed by Sri Lankan courts, the rally lasted for five days and passed through each district in the Tamil homeland.

Sri Lankan Co-cabinet Spokesman and Minister of Energy, Udaya Gammanpila, has attacked the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as a “biased” institution and slammed the previous administration for co-sponsorship of UNHRC’s 30/1 resolution.

Sri Lanka’s Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, has rejected the findings of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights latest report on Sri Lanka and threatened the Tamil National Alliance which has signed a joint statement calling for Sri Lanka to be referred to the ICC.

“The TNA is displaying its true colours in an age where the pandemic has hit every corner of the country and strict legal action must be taken in this regard,” said Rambukwella.

On 3 February 2021, Tamils and Muslims in the North-East mobilised en-masse to begin a peaceful march from Pottuvil in Amparai to Polikandy in Jaffna, two points delineating the furthest ends of the traditional Tamil homeland, in defiance of numerous court orders.

Their aim was to raise awareness of the plight of Tamils and Muslims on the island and to call upon the UN and the international community to heed Tamil calls for justice and accountability. Throughout this march, Sri Lanka’s security forces attempted to break up the rally at various points by threatening and intimidating demonstrators as well obtaining injunctions against the protest but at each step protesters have defied Sri Lanka’s security forces. Whilst the march was initially set to end on 6 February, it was extended to the 7 February due to these disruptions.