Photograph by Gajan Bala 

Shan Vincent de Paul who goes by the moniker SVDP, is a Toronto-based Tamil rapper and director. His debut album "Saviors" was released in 2016, followed by his sophomore album "Trigger Happy Heartbreak" in 2017. Shan has released a song from his upcoming album "Made in Jaffna" - titled "One Hundred Thousand Flowers".

<p>Following the report of UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greif, the UK Human Rights Counsellor, Matthew Forman, expressed ‘concern’ and ‘profound disappointment’ &nbsp;over Sri Lanka’s progression on transitional justice.</p> <p>In the statement, Forman reiterated the UK’s “profound disappointment” at Sri Lanka’s decision to withdraw support for resolution 30/1.</p>

An expert committee to examine the 20th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution is to be following growing public concerns that the amendment would remove parliamentary oversight and centralise power within the presidency.

The 20th amendment has also faced opposition from within the SLPP.

On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, spoke about the dangers of the amendment saying;

Over a dozen Sri Lankan police officers from the country’s Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) have been arrested for their alleged involvement in an illegal drug ring.

According to Al Jazeera, the officers from the PNB helped to smuggle illicit drugs into the country; store them within safe houses; ran fake raids; and then siphoned off a set portion of the stolen goods, securing millions in profit.

Amnesty International announced that Ramzy Razeek, an online activist was granted bail by the Colombo High Court after a hearing on Thursday morning, after spending more than five months behind bars in Sri Lankan detention.

Razeek was arrested in April after he wrote a post on his Facebook wall on the need for an “ideological Jihad” to stop organized anti-Muslim propaganda. His post was met with violence against him and his family, leading the activist to declare he would be self-censoring due to the treats he faced.

Former Northern Provincial Council member Shivajilingam has been released on bail by the Jaffna Magistrate Court after he was arrested by the police for paying tribute to thiyaga theepam Lt Col Thileepan defying a ban imposed by Sri Lankan authorities on his commemoration.

Reporting on the developments towards transitional justice since his first visit in March 2015, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, noted that Sri Lanka appears to have missed a “historic opportunity” for sustainable peace due to the government’s “lack of commitment”

Sri Lankan police have summoned the Batticaloa Organiser of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) over attempts to commemorate the anniversary of Lt Col Thileepan’s fast unto death, as the security forces continue their crackdown across the Tamil homeland.

The TNPF said that Dharmaratanam Suresh has been summoned by police for questioning, in a tweet released earlier today.

“To add salt to injury, we continue to get served with documents in Sinhala despite us making clear that we need them in Tamil or English,” the party added.

British Tamils protested outside the prime minister’s office at Downing Street last week, calling on the UK to arrested and investigate Sri Lanka’s Defence Attaché Brigadier BDSN Bothota for genocide.

Dozens of protestors gathered in London last week, calling for Bothota to be declared a ‘persona non grata’.

Local Tamils in a Vavuniya village took to the streets early this week protesting against a statement made by Dileepan, an Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) parliamentarian, who they claimed insulted the village at a recent meeting of the provincial coordination group.

Dileepan, an MP from the Aachipuram constituency, reportedly stated that Aachipuram is a village ‘rife with drug abuse’.