Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the Indonesian government to allow over 40 Tamils fleeing from Sri Lanka to disembark and meet with UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) officials.

“These people have endured a long and difficult journey already. Now that they have reached land in Aceh, they should be allowed to disembark and meet UNHCR officials,” Amnesty International’s director of campaigns for South East Asia and the Pacific, Josef Benedict said in a statement.

Noting the ongoing discrimination against Tamils, Amnesty said in a statement:

"Despite many recent improvements, there are still concerns about discriminatory practices against Tamils by law enforcement officials."

"The UN Human Rights Council noted in April that Sri Lanka saw a spate of arrests of Tamils under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Arrests carried out under the PTA have, in a number of cases, failed to meet the minimum standards of due process laid out in directives by Sri Lanka’s National Human Rights Commission. Tamil Sri Lankans remain deeply concerned about what they say is a persistent culture of surveillance in the north and east of the country."

The Sri Lankan government is planning to replace the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act with three new acts. The National Security Act, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act and the Intelligence Act will replace the PTA and are aimed at preventing the re-emergence of terrorism, consolidate inter communal harmony, the rule of law and national security, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi told the Daily Mirror.

“All these new legislative measures are still in the formative stage and being drafted,” Mr Hettiarachchi said.

As the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council began this week in Geneva, with an oral progress update by the UN High Commissioner for human rights anticipated the Sri Lankan government announced that the Paranagama Commission would be disbanded on July 15th.

The Commission will submit its work to the new Office on Missing Persons, its chair, Maxwell Paranagama told Colombo Gazette.

Sri Lanka has made little progress in fulfilling its human rights commitments, observed a panel at a British parliamentary event hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) joint with the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG).

The event on June 7th opened with the screening of the documentary ‘Silenced Survivors’, a film featuring harrowing testimonies of Tamil torture survivors, recounting their experiences at the hands of Sri Lankan military and authorities and raising their fears of ever returning. The film was produced by investigative journalist Emanuel Stokes.

The Sri Lankan military is still occupying most seized lands despite the government handing over some lands back to its owners, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R Sampanthan was quoted by Ceylon Today as telling parliament.

Highlighting lands occupied by the military in Valikaamam and Paravipachchan but that are not in active use, Mr Sampanthan asked, "why can't the army give these back to their original civilian owners?"

Pointing to the longstanding discrimination against Tamils, Mr Sampanthan said there has been no change in the discrimination against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Opening the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, recalled the joint resolution passed on Sri Lanka, and affirmed he would be presenting an oral update later in the session.

"In Sri Lanka, the government’s efforts to implement its commitments in Resolution 30/1 will require a comprehensive strategy on transitional justice that enables it to pursue different processes in a coordinated, integrated and appropriately sequenced manner," he told the Council.