Sri Lanka’s ambassador to South Africa held a flurry of meetings with officials in the country this week, as Colombo sought to rally international support around its much-criticised human rights record and lack of accountability for mass atrocities ahead of the UN Human Rights Council session.

Following widespread criticism of Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) by over 80 civil society and human rights organisations, the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has challenged the constitutionality of the bill in the Supreme Court.

“I was very naive in the beginning,” says Nasser Shaikh. He travelled to Sri Lanka and met with senior government officials after his brother had been brutally murdered. He had hoped for answers and the real truth.    

“I guess they told me everything, I needed to hear.”

Nasser spoke to the Tamil Guardian about his struggle to seek justice that spanned from his hometown of Manchester to Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran has launched a petition campaign calling for the repeal of Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The campaign will be inaugurated tomorrow morning in front of the Fort Railway Station in Colombo.

Sri Lanka's foreign currency reserves have fallen over 24% to USD $2.36 billion by the end of January from USD $3.14 billion at the end of December 2021, despite currency swaps and debt deferments from India and China. 

As the 2022 Indian Premier League auction came to a close this week, controversy erupted after reigning champions Chennai Super Kings purchased Sri Lankan army cricketer Maheesh Theekshana to join the Tamil Nadu-based franchise.

The hashtags #Boycott_ChennaiSuperKings and #DontNormaliseTamilGenocide began being shared on social media platforms as new spread of the Sri Lankan Army Corporal joining the team.

The British government has confirmed that at least 89 Eelam Tamils, including 20 children, are amongst those being held at the US Naval base on the occupied island of Diego Garcia, with questions still to be answered on where they may be transferred to next.

Tamils in Kokkilai rallied through the streets on Saturday, as they demonstrated against attempts by a state-owned mineral company to appropriate land for the construction of an ilmenite mine.

Staff at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital said that damage found to a brand new C-arm scanner at the hospital may have been deliberate sabotage, after the machine was found broken just days after being repaired.

Eight human rights organisations expressed their deep concern over a recent statement by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry which smeared former Human Rights Commissioner, Ambika Satkunanathan, which they called an "act of harassment and intimidation.”

The residence of Colombo-based journalist, Chamuditha Samarawickrama, was attacked by masked gunmen travelling in a white van in the early hours of Monday.

This attack takes place just 14 days ahead of a UN Human Rights Council session and follows a series of controversial videos released by the journalist, the latest of which laid allegations against the extremist Buddhist monk Galabadaththe Gnanasara who heads Sri Lanka’s task force for ‘One Country, One Law’.

Following widespread criticism from over 80 civil society organisations and human rights experts of Sri Lanka’s proposed reforms to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, State Minister of Regional Cooperation, Tharaka Balasuriya claimed that the government would replace the measure with a new bill.

As Sri Lanka's economy continues to collapse, prices of staple foods have reached a record high, restricting vulnerable households to access food says the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.

Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, the Tamil youth who self-immolated in protest outside the United Nations in Geneva over the inaction of the international community in the face of the genocide of Tamils, was remembered in London and in Jaffna yesterday.