The United Kingdom has reiterated concerns over the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, highlighting the North, in a statement in parliament earlier this week.

Speaking as the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence was under way, Senior Minister of State Baroness Warsi stated in parliament,

A missing school boy has been admitted to Vavuniya hospital, after he was released by a group of unidentified persons and discovered blindfolded near his home, earlier this week.

The student, seventeen year old Mahalingam Rajeevan, was reported missing after he failed to come home on May 27th.

Sri Lanka has told the UN Human Rights Council that it is taking concrete steps to combat violence against women, reports ColomboPage.

In a statement at a clustered interactive dialogue with he UN's Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, Sri Lanka's representative said:

"We believe that in national policy formulation to combat violence against women, it is necessary to focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women to enable them to fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

A senior police official from Jaffna has said that anyone gathering in groups unnecessarily will be arrested, reported the Uthayan.

Vimalasena said that gatherings around public places, such as temples, will not be allowed.

The official asked the public to report any such incidents to the police, adding that those gathered are behind murders, thefts and robberies.

The world renowned songwriter and hip hop artist, M.I.A (Mathangi Arulpragasam) and the human rights advocate, Bianca Jagger, called for justice for Tamils who had been raped by the Sri Lankan military.

A survey by the UNHRC in parts of Sri Lanka’s Northeast found nearly 40% of women feel they are not safe at home, with militarisation being a key reason, press reports quoted the UN Population Fund’s representative in Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenale, as saying.

Sibenale was speaking Wednesday at an event at the British High Commission in Colombo to mark the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ conference being held in London.

See reports by Daily Mirror and Colombo Telegraph.

 

“This [sexual violence] is an issue that has affected every part of Sri Lanka but at the same time, we need to recognize that the North and East have specific degree variations of vulnerability that do differ from the rest of the country,” he said.

 

Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, hailed Buddhism as the "foundation for the culture and way of life of our people" and central to the building of the country, in a message marking the Buddhist festival of Poson today, the Daily Mirror reported.

"Even today we are on the correct path as we earnestly believe that there is no other path to build the country other than the teachings of the Buddha brought to us by Arahath Mahinda," President Rajapaksa said.