Pragas Gnanapragasam, a 26-year-old Tamil journalist from Jaffna, passed away due to coronavirus earlier today.

Marking International Day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances have called on UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, to reject the Sri Lankan Government’s Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and instead pursue an international inquiry into the fate of those forcibly disappeared.

Former Scottish Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, has urged Police Scotland to end all involvement in training Sri Lankan police warning that “Sri Lankan authorities are using Police Scotland as cover to deny repression and breaches of human rights”.

Marking International day for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, a collection of Tamil diaspora organisations released a joint statement urging the international community to pursue accountability for the families of those forcibly disappeared in Sri Lanka and for a collation of evidence to provide an accurate account of those disappeared.

A former Sri Lankan soldier who won a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this week has been granted a military promotion, according to the Sri Lankan army.

Sergeant Dinesh Priyantha Herath has been praised by Sri Lankan government and military officials, and by the British High Commission in Colombo, for his performance at the games.

Sri Lanka's president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has imposed emergency regulations this week as the country’s private banks ran out of foreign exchange reserves to finance imports and a food shortage crisis strikes.

Tamil families of the disappeared held sit in protests in their homes yesterday to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. 

The families who have been demanding answers about the fate of their loved ones, lit lamps in their homes as a curfew has been imposed due to the spread of Covid-19 across the island.

It has been 1,635 days since the Tamil families began their roadside protests across the eight districts in the North-East. Despite multiple pledges from various Sri Lankan administrations, there has not been any accountability for those who were forcibly disappeared at the hands of the Sri Lankan state. 

Sri Lanka’s COVID death toll hit a grisly new figure earlier today, as more than 9,000 deaths were reported in total, making it one of Asia’s hardest-hit regions by the pandemic.

Secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, met with Sri Lanka’s Defence Minister, Kamala Gunarnte, in Moscow and pledged to enhance security ties between the two countries.

Marking International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the UN has released a statement maintaining the need for “a fully independent and effective” Office of Missing Persons.

Responding to the skyrocketing food prices, Sri Lankan Trade Minister, Bandula Gunawardena, is set to propose a rationing system for sugar and essential items sold via Lanka Sathosa outlets, the largest retail chain in the country.

Over 70 individuals and organisations, including prominent religious leaders and human rights advocates in Sri Lanka, have demanded the immediate release of Hejaaz Hizbullah who has been detained under the country’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act for over 500 days.

Responding to the announcement of welfare benefits for Eelam Tamil refugees by Tamil Nadu’s chief minister M.K. Stalin, Sri Lankan minister Namal Rajapaksa claimed that the Rajapaksa administration welcomed back Tamil refugees whilst omitting ongoing accounts of torture.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin unveiled a host of welfare benefits for Eelam Tamil refugees in a speech delivered to the legislative assembly on Friday. The measures range from establishing new settlements and upgrading existing dwellings to scholarships for students of Eelam Tamil origin.