Responding to a damning Human Rights Watch report, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has lashed out against the findings claiming that “sensationalized and biased reporting” risks “risks igniting and aggravating domestic discord”.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has published a gazette notification, mandating that hotel services accept payments from tourists only in foreign exchange as the islands economic crisis worsens. 

The gazette notification notes that hotel services registered with and licensed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority are required to,  

The newly appointed Vice Chancellor at the University of Colombo launched a scathing attack on undergraduates at the university this week.

In their year-end report, Human Rights Watch detailed how the Rajapaksa regime has placed fundamental rights under “serious jeopardy” with “escalated surveillance and intimidation targeting victims’ families and human rights defenders”.

A Tamil family who were removed by Australian authorities from their home in Biloela almost four years ago have won an important court case which will allow them to apply for new bridging visas this week, though their battle against deportation to Sri Lanka continues.

Events were held in Batticaloa today to remember Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan 16 years on from his murder, as calls were renewed demanding justice for his murder.

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames has unveiled a plaque commemorating the twinning with Jaffna in celebrations held to mark Tamil heritage month in London. 

 In an address to parliament, C.V. Wigneswaran, stressed that Sri Lanka current economic woes are driven by the government’s failure to meet the demands of the Tamil nation.

Chastising the attempt by Sri Lanka’s President to sweep over the underlying issues for Tamils, Wigneswaran states:

Responding to the Indian government’s decision to exclude Tamil Nadu’s submission for its 75^th annual Republic Day parade, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin maintained that this was “unacceptable”.

As an economic crisis sends food and gas prices soaring in Sri Lanka, candles have become the latest commodity to be hit as shortages have begun to be reported in the southern capital of Colombo.

The British government may continue to train Sri Lankan police, even after Police Scotland announced it would not extend its contract after March 2022 due to ongoing human rights concerns on the island.

Sri Lanka’s controversial ‘One Country, One Law’ Task Force and a think-tank under the defence ministry have forced the withdrawal of an Islamic text book, reportedly over concerns that “they might contain ideas of extremist ideology”.

According to a report in the Sunday Times the textbooks for Grade 6 schoolchildren “contained some objectionable words”.

As part of a three-day tour of Sri Lanka, British Minister for South Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmad, made a visit to the Buddhist Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo and tweeted that  “inclusivity of people of all faiths and beliefs defines the strength of a country’s human rights”.

Meeting with leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan, and parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran, British Minister for South Asia Tariq Ahmad spoke on the need to address long-term Tamil concerns including ensuring Sri Lanka meets commitments under UN Human Rights Councils Resolution 46/1.