In advance of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a statement slamming the Sri Lankan government for denying preventing the “families of the disappeared from learning the truth about their loved ones” and for protecting the perpetrators from accountability.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have called on Sri Lankan police to stop harassing Batticaloa journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and "let him work without interference." 

Sasikaran, a Tamil journalist and treasurer of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association Union, was interrogated by Sri Lanka's Special Crime Prevention Unit earlier this week. 

Australia’s High Commissioner to Colombo, David Holly, met with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peris on Wednesday to discuss bilateral relations despite concerns over Sri Lanka’s dire human rights record.

On Twitter, the High Commissioner stated:

In a joint letter addressed to the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police, Chandana Wickramaratne, six media organisations express concern over the continued arrest and intimidation of journalists on the island.

 The letter addressed the arrest of journalist Keerthi Ratnayake, who allegedly provided information to the Indian embassy. The Media Organization Collective highlighted Ratnayake's life "could be in danger" and requested he "be investigated under the prescribed legal provisions and that his life be protected against all harm." 

Mangala Samaraweera, a formidable figure in Sri Lankan politics who previously held several ministerial posts, passed away from COVID-19 at a private hospital in Colombo this week. News of his death was met with international tributes from senior political figures worldwide, including the United States, UK, Europe and India. Many of those messages mourned the loss of a man that came to espouse the type of liberal Sri Lankan politics that reverberated with those powers. His passing will therefore be a particular blow to longstanding Western efforts that seek active partners amongst the Sinhala Buddhist polity for the liberal order project.

In a joint statement leading international Tamil rights groups have called upon their respective governments, as well as international and regional powers, to intervene to find a “just solution to the long-lasting Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka”.

Photo credits: Jaya Bathuri

Bhaskaran Kumarasamy, an Eelam Tamil refugee and former member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), faces threat of imminent deportation from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka as a court ruling in June put into question his status as a refugee in India. 

Former Sri Lankan minister Mangala Samaraweera passed away from COVID-19 on Tuesday, following admission into an Intensive Care Unit at a private hospital in Colombo earlier this month.

During his lifetime he held prominent positions in various governments in Sri Lanka, including under Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena.

International tributes

United States

Marking his death, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, stated on Twitter:

Responding to a letter signed by 10 party leaders, which called for a three-week lockdown to the delta variant of the coronavirus, Sri Lanka’s ruling party,  Sri Lanka Podujana Preamuna (SLPP), has slammed the signatory of engaging in a conspiracy to discredit the government.

A protest was held against the attempted land grab in Jaffna, in which four acres of private land were taken for the Karkovalam Army camp.

Protesters blocked land surveyors and officials who had come to survey the land and stated the land would not be handed over to the army. Tamil land continues to be seized by the Sri Lankan government for military purposes.