The Sri Lankan government came under severe criticism for human rights and humanitarian abuses at a public hearing in Brussels of the European Parliamentary Development Committee Wednesday. The Tamil Tigers were also criticized.

A panel of international experts tasked with overseeing a Presidential commission looking into a set of human rights violations criticized the inquiry’s progress and performance.

Sri Lanka’s hard-line Defence Secretary launched a bitter attack on the international community Tuesday, saying Sri Lanka was being bullied by Western states over human rights.

THE Sri Lanka government came under criticism from local and international media watchdog after it ordered local internet service providers to block access to TamilNet, the web-based news agency covering events in the island's northeast.

PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapakse's government is coming under increasing international pressure over its continuing human rights abuses and hardline approach to the island's ethnic question.

Why is Sri Lanka now under international pressure?

Sri Lanka’s abductions depict the insanity generated by absence of rule of law.

Summary of incidents – apart from major clashes – since 21 May

At least fourteen individuals have disappeared or been abducted from the traditional Tamil village in the East.

LTTE launched commando attacks along a broad front in Vavuniya and Mannar districts

Summary of incidents – apart from major clashes – since 28 May

Tamils in Colombo "without a valid reason" are being sent back to their villages, Sri Lanka's police chief said last Friday.

Hundreds of Tamils, many from poor rural areas, live in boarding houses in Colombo while they work, search for jobs or seek employment abroad.

Many Tamils in Colombo complain they are being deliberately targeted by the security forces, detained and searched as the military conflict with the LTTE heats up.