The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture has completed its first field visit to Sri Lanka earlier today and will now look to submit a confidential report on its findings to the government.

“The delegation visited police stations, prisons, remand prisons, military camps, rehabilitation centres, mental health institution, a rehabilitation centre for children, and held meetings with the Government representatives, Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission and civil society representatives,” said a UN press release.

Sri Lanka’s former defence chief, accused of overseeing the massacre of thousands of Tamils, announced he had taken steps to renounce his American citizenship as he arrived back in Colombo on Friday.

German authorities have indicted a Tamil man, accusing him of committing war crimes in 2008 whilst he was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Federal prosecutors said that 37-year-old Sivatheeban B stands accused of executing 15 Sri Lankan soldiers. The AP reports that he is also accused of killing two Sri Lankan soldiers a year later.

Other charges he faces include membership in a foreign terrorist organization, war crimes, two cases of manslaughter and 11 cases of attempted manslaughter.

See more from the AP here.

The Sri Lankan military announced that it had constructed houses in at least two Sinhala settlement villages in the North-East, as the militarised colonisation of the Tamil homeland continues.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the Sri Lankan government of wanting to “keep the Tamil people as second-class citizens”.

A protest in Mandaitivu prevented government officials from surveying land intended for appropriation by the Sri Lankan navy.

The navy has been occupying the island since 1990 with its camp based on over 18 acres of land belonging to 11 Tamil owners.

Sri Lanka is among countries with a rising interest burgen, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned this week. 

“Many economies saw rising interest burdens, which exceeded 20 percent of total revenue in 2018 in Egypt, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka,” the IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report.

“As a result, emerging market economies have become vulnerable to rollover risks if they face large financing needs.”

The IMF urged countries like Argentina, Sri Lanka, China and Turkey to end tax exemptions and improve administrative efficiency in order to generate increased revenues. 

Roy Samathanam, a Tamil torture survivor, who filed a civil lawsuit against Sri Lanka's former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, described how his experience of torture at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces "never goes away" speaking in London today.

A photography exhibition depicting the struggle of Tamil families of the disappeared to find their loved ones was showcased at Vadduvakal Bridge this week, a site where many of their families handed over their loved ones to the Sri Lankan military almost a decade ago.

^{Vavuniya. January 2019} 

Citing public safety concerns during the upcoming Tamil new year and Sinhala new year celebrations, the Sri Lankan police said it would be deploying 8000 extra officers.