Tamil families carried out protests in Batticaloa and Jaffna yesterday, calling for an international investigation into enforced disappearances and the Tamil genocide. 

As the United Nations Human Rights Council discussed the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, protesters in the North-East took to the streets to demand justice for the disappeared, the unconditional release of political prisoners and to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). 

Protests were held in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Colombo today, as International Women’s Day was marked across the island with Tamil women leading demonstrations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)  conducted an Article IV consultation in Sri Lanka where they stressed the urgency to implement a credible strategy to address one of the worst financial crises the country has faced. 

Sri Lanka’s finance minister has urged all Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) heads of local government bodies to switch off streetlights of their respective areas until the end of March to conserve energy as Sri Lanka’s economic crisis continues to worsen.

Students from Tamil Nadu and Kerala who had managed to arrive in Poland with no support from India's Minister of External Affairs, are now facing further discrimination, according to the latest reports.

Although the official policy was supposed to be “first come first served”, Tamil Nadu and Kerala students report being denied the same preferential treatment as North Indians.

Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith told the UN Human Rights Council that the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019 were part of a “grand political plot”, in an address were he called on the international body to ensure there was an “impartial investigation to unravel the truth”.

Tamil journalist, Murugupillai Kokulathasan, has been released on bail today by Valaichenai Magistrate court, after being held in detention for over 470 days under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

As the United Nations Human Rights Council continued to discuss Sri Lanka today, several member states including the United States and Britain expressed “concerns regarding the continued lack of progress on accountability” for mass atrocities on the island.

Whilst many states expressed concern at the situation in Sri Lanka, Colombo did however have some familiar defenders at the global body – including Russia and Belarus. Both states are currently under international scrutiny and widespread sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

British MP, Virendra Sharma, has joined a number of prominent British MPs who and Tamil activists who have called on the UK Foreign Secretary to impose Magnitsky style sanctions on Sri Lankan army commander, Shavendra Silva.

Sri Lanka is facing drug shortages due to unfavourable internal price controls and a worsening forex crisis making it harder for vendors to purchase drugs, leading to acute shortages of 5 per cent of medicines registered with the National Medicines Regulatory authority which includes paracetamol and drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. 

The Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceuticals industry (SLCPI) has noted that banks are reluctant to open letters of credit to import drugs.