As the average daily death toll due to COVID surpasses 100, the country’s police have announced that they will begin arresting individuals for not wearing masks in public.

The announcement comes after the release of a damning Human Rights Watch report which highlights how Sri Lanka’s police have exploited the pandemic to excuse abuses which include arbitrary detention, police brutality, and extrajudicial killings.

Responding to Police Scotland’s suspension of its police training programme, due to human rights concerns, Sri Lanka’s Public Security Minister, Sarath Weerasekara, decried the decision as “unfair”.

“How can they level any such charges? Have they actually done any investigation to prove those claims? It is very unfair if they (Police Scotland) have suspended such a training programme simply on such claims,” the minister complained.

Swiss Tamils marked the 15th anniversary of the Sencholai massacre with a silent protest outside the United Nations in Geneva yesterday.  

On August 14 2006, four Sri Lankan air force jets flew over the Vanni and dropped sixteen bombs over the Sencholai children's home for orphans, killing 53 school girls and 3 teachers. 

Remembrance events for the victims of the 2006 Sencholai massacre, in which 53 school children and 3 teachers were killed, took place across the homeland yesterday, amidst the ongoing crackdown by the state on Tamil memorialisation. 

The 31^st anniversary since human rights activist Father Eugene John Hebert was forcibly disappeared was commemorated in Batticaloa yesterday.

Sri Lankan security forces cordoned off the roads leading to the Sencholai children's home in Vallipunam, Mullaitivu, in an attempt to block any commemorations of the massacre from taking place. 

On this day 15 years ago, four Sri Lankan air force jets flew over the Vanni and dropped sixteen bombs over the Sencholai children's home for orphans, killing 53 school girls and 3 teachers. 

Marking the 15th anniversary of the Sencholai massacre, in which Sri Lanka’s airforce massacred 53 school girls by bombing the Sencholai orphanage, German Tamils continued their demands for justice. Protests were held in Berlin and in Dortmund.

Marking the 15th anniversary of the Sencholai massacre, in which Sri Lanka’s airforce massacred 53 school girls by bombing the Sencholai orphanage, British Tamils continue their demands for justice.

The demonstrations were organised by the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO).

Speaking to the press on Thursday, Selvam Adaikalanathan, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said that his party would not hesitate to participate in talks with the government, provided they meet the demands laid out by TNA.

Adaikalanathan was addressing recent reports suggesting that a meeting between the government and TNA was imminent. 

Responding to concerns raised by Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT), Elliot Colburn, over potential cuts in funding to UN Expert Committee, British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, highlighted his concerns for the human rights environment in Sri Lanka and noted that his officials have been in contact with the Office of the UN High Commissioner to secure a level of funding which would enable for collection and analysis of evidence of war crimes in Sri Lanka.