Sri Lankan security forces continue to harass Tamil families of the disappeared and weaponise counterterrorism laws against Tamil activists and journalists, despite promises of reform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned this week.

Over 500,000 pilgrims from across the island gathered in Mannar last week to mark the annual feast of Our Lady of Madhu.

The August 15 festival, marking the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has long been one of the most significant events in the Catholic calendar. The site is the most revered Catholic shrine on the island.

Over 200 people, including families of the disappeared, gathered earlier this month in Jaffna to view dozens of items of evidence exhumed from the Chemmani mass graves.

On 20 August 2006, a young Tamil Catholic priest Father Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown disappeared along with his lay assistant in the Sri Lankan military occupied Jaffna peninsula. Nineteen years later, his fate remains unknown, shrouded by silence and unanswered questions. 

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, has expressed concern over the interrogation of Tamil journalist and human rights defender Kanapathipillai Kumanan by Sri Lanka’s Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division (CTID).

Sri Lanka is once again seizing on foreign conflicts to export its labour force, as Thailand announced it will recruit 10,000 Sri Lankan workers to fill shortages caused by the mass return of Cambodian labourers following deadly border clashes.

Tamil American organisations have called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to recognise the struggle of the Eelam Tamils as an unresolved case of decolonisation, warning that decades of inaction have entrenched impunity for genocide and denied justice to survivors.

An Israeli tourist was injured in Arugam Bay after leaping from a moving tuk-tuk to escape an attempted robbery, in an incident that has again drawn attention to the presence of Israeli tourists on the island.

Sri Lanka is set to borrow the equivalent of US$500 million in Chinese yuan from the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) to resume work on the long-delayed Central Expressway (CEP 1).