The University of Jaffna Students’ Union is condemning a series of tweets by the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka that commits to protecting the regime against ‘accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and Genocide committed by the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil people” at the upcoming UNHRC session in Geneva. 

Ahead of the 51^st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the UN High Commissioner has released a scathing report on Sri Lanka outlining the deepening militarisation, the continued harassment of Tamil survivor communities, and the deterioration of human rights on the island.

Illustration by House of Thulasi 

A new report by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) examines how Sri Lanka has failed to punish perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence against Tamils.

Following a tense leadership contest, Elizabeth Truss (Liz Truss) has been announced Britain’s new Prime Minister securing 81,326 votes compared to Rishi Sunak's 60,399.

Ahead of the leadership contest, Truss reaffirmed her commitment to justice in Sri Lanka telling a conference of British Tamil Conservatives;

Jaffna Press Club held a memorial event for young Tamil journalist Pragas Gnanapragasam who passed away last year after contracting coronavirus. 

Pragas was an independent journalist writing for magazines and newspapers in the North-East. He also contibuted to the Tamil Guardian, as a correspondent based in the North-East, sending updates from the homeland. 

Selvakumar Nilanthan, a Tamil journalist and Batticaloa Press Club secretary, has been summoned to Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) in Colombo later this month. 

Batticaloa police officers visited Nilanthan's home yesterday to give him the summons letter which orders him to go to Colombo on September 14th for an investigation for his alleged links to Thayamohan, former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Batticaloa political head. 

@GGPonnambalam 'Astonished and Shocked' by @sajithpremadasa saying the opposition won't be able to support the government in Geneva, given the oppression against protesters.

"Sadly, That is a slip that speaks the truth. ...#Tamil people cannot expect anything from this house". pic.twitter.com/W7cKQEFPeN

Opposing the interim budget, the leader of the Tamil People’s National Front, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, questioned why Sri Lanka’s military was not being downsized.

 “When talking about restructuring, there was no discussion about restructuring of the military. The military structure is so big that in the budget – 19 percent of the budget last time” he told parliament. Funding for education and health combined fell below 10 percent in the last budget.

A.R. Rahman poses with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and other prominent Canadian politicians

The city of Markham has named a street in honour of Indian music icon, A.R. Rahman. 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) have called on Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe to immediately end the use of the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which has been used recently to detain anti-government protesters. 

Since taking office, Wickremesinghe has clamped down on protesters by imposing a one month state of emergency and carrying out a series of arrests.