On 3 February 2021, Tamils and Muslims in the North-East mobilised en-masse to begin a peaceful march from Pottuvil in Amparai to Polikandy in Jaffna, two points delineating the furthest ends of the traditional Tamil homeland, in defiance of numerous court orders. Their aim was to raise awareness of the plight of Tamils and Muslims on the island and to call upon the UN and the international community to heed Tamil calls for justice and accountability. Throughout this march, Sri Lanka’s security forces attempted to break up the rally at various points by threatening and intimidating demonstrators as well obtaining injunctions against the protest but at each step protesters have defied Sri Lanka’s security forces. Whilst the march was initially set to end on 6 February, it was extended to the 7 February due to these disruptions.

The Sri Lankan government lambasted a report from the United Nations human rights chief last week, as it sent a response which defended accused war criminals, denied reports of rights abuses and slammed accusations of ongoing discrimination. In an almost 20-page response sent to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a draft version of which has been seen by the Tamil Guardian , the Sri Lankan government called her report “speculative, presumptive and unsubstantiated opinions”. The response was sent to the United Nations on Wednesday, just hours before it was publicly released, following...

A report by the United Nations human rights chief warns of the “seeds of future violence and conflict” in Sri Lanka, as she called for member states to consider “asset freezes and travel bans” on Sri Lankan officials accused of human rights abuses.

Vidura Wickramanayaka, Sri Lanka's state minister for 'national heritage', accompanied by army soldiers and archaeology department officers, led an event on Monday at Kurunthoormalai in which a new Buddha statue was placed and consecrated at the site of the Athi Aiyanar temple. The temple site, on a hilltop in the Kumulamunai area of Mullaitivu, has been the target of intense landgrab efforts by Sinhala Buddhist monks, met with fierce resistance from locals which in 2018 led to a court order decreeing that no changes could be made to the site. The court also stated that the archaeology department had abused its power in allowing Buddhist monks to survey the area. While Tamils have been resisting several attempts at landgrabs and Sinhalisation across the North-East, and particularly in Mullaitivu, fronted by state agencies such as the archaeology department and forest department, the minister's presence in Monday's landgrab represents the first time the Sri Lankan government has openly demonstrated its involvement in the colonisation.