In their annual report, British ministers and MPs renewed their commitment to “fighting for truth, justice and accountability for Tamils” whilst highlighting the ongoing abuses suffered by those in Sri Lanka.

UNHRC

In an open letter, several global Tamil diaspora organisations have called on their respective governments to impose targeted travel bans and asset freezes on high-ranking Sri Lankan war criminals and their family members.

The letter calls on these countries to follow the lead of the United States which has already imposed a travel ban on the head of Sri Lanka’s army Shavendra Silva due to grave concerns of human rights abuses.

Despite Sri Lankan police officers attempting to halt commemorations in Batticaloa earlier today, the 35^th anniversary of the Kokkadichcholai massacre was marked in the district, paying tribute to the 87 people killed by Sri Lankan security forces.

Batticaloa MP Govindan Karunakaram attempted to pay tribute at the recently rebuilt memorial earlier today, when he was stopped by Sri Lankan police officers.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister Basil Rajapaksa said Colombo was “trying all our options” to avoid defaulting on looming payments, as an economic crisis worsens on the island.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Rajapaksa said the government was “negotiating with everybody”.

“We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them,” he said. “Then we have creditors and we have to service their debt, so whether we can have an adjustment or some type of thing.”

Responding to a question posed by MP for Mitcham and Morden, Siobhain McDonagh, on the need for sanctions on Shavendra Silva, Amanda Milling, Minister of State for Asia, remained tight-lipped insisting that the government does "not normally speculate about future sanctions targets, as to do so could reduce their impact”.

Milling's further added that the UK government "regularly engages with the US and other partners on issues relating to Sri Lanka".

South Korea’s Speaker of the National Assembly, Park Byeong-Seug, visited Sri Lanka amidst a flurry of diplomatic visits and a worsening economic crisis to explore employment, investment and training opportunities.

Brampton’s integrity commissioner has cleared Mayor Patrick Brown’s behaviour, noting that he did not break any codes, following a dispute over Tamil Genocide Day.

Responding to a resident who criticised the memorial day as recognising only “one ethnic group”, Brown questioned if he had worked with or spoken with the Sri Lankan government “due to a perceived similarity in the language used”.

Marking the invasion of the First Nation communities in Australia in 1788, Eelam Tamils marched in solidarity with Aboriginal communities to commemorate the genocidal abuse suffered and continuing abuses by Australia’s government.

The Guardian notes that the total death toll from recorded massacres in Victoria is 1,186. The total death toll from frontier violence remains unknown but the University of Newcastle has identified 311 massacre sites in Australia from 1788 to 1930.

Sri Lanka fell 8 places in Transparency International’s corruption perception index (CPI) for 2021, with the state now ranking 102^nd in the world.

With a score of 37/100, Sri Lanka drops behind countries such as Vietnam, India, China and East Timor. The latest ranking is the second worst score it has received from Transparency International

Sri Lankan police officers have pushed back protesting Tamil mothers in Vavuniya today, as they demanded justice for their forcibly disappeared loved ones outside a justice ministry meeting in the city.