US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on members of the UN Human Rights Council to back a resolution on addressing “the lack of accountability for past atrocities in Sri Lanka”, in an address to the council today.

“I’m here to reaffirm America’s commitment to respect and defend the human rights of all people, everywhere,” said Blinken this morning, adding that his government “is placing democracy and human rights at the center of our foreign policy”.

Bolivia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr Rogelio Mayta has condemned the deterioration of human rights globally noting that “members of ethnic minorities have been assassinated and tortured in West Sahara and Sri Lanka”.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council virtually on Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, called for a rejection of the UN resolution claiming it was “unsubstantiated”, politically motivated, and brought about by “hegemonic forces” colluding against Sri Lank

Sri Lankan army officers attacked a Tamil man outside an army camp in Keppapulavu, Mullaitivu on Thursday (18^th February).

The officers followed the Tamil man, who was on a motorbike with another man around 500 metres from the army, and stopped him with their patrol van. The armed officers yelled vulgar abuse in Sinhalese and then assaulted the Tamil man in an unprovoked attack.

Tamil MP M.A. Sumanthiran is the latest to be questioned regarding his participation in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) protest held earlier this month, in a series of police inquiries into Tamil MPs that took part in the demonstration.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, who had his Special Task Force security team withdrawn following the protest upon orders of Sri Lanka's public security minister, stated that police officers from several stations in the North-East visited his office yesterday (February 22^nd) in order to obtain statements.

Dominik Frugler, the Swiss ambassador to Sri Lanka visited the Commander of the Jaffna security force, General Priyantha Perera last week, where gifts were also exchanged between the parties, days before the UN Human Rights Council was set to meet.

A Sri Lankan military website claimed "the Ambassador of Switzerland and his first secretary (Political Affair) Mrs. Sidonia Gabrial and other official were surprised when they were aware of the relation between people of the Jaffna peninsula and Sri Lanka Army".

Jaffna District Secretary Kanapathipillai Mahesan and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing have announced plans to resettle the 409 families in Jaffna which are internally displaced due to the armed conflict and are living in approximately 23 welfare centres in the district.

Based on findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), which was examining the Easter Sunday bombings, which claimed the lives of over 250 people, BBC Sinhala Service has reported that India may have played a role in the attack and maintained that the accused leader of the National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ), Zaharan Hashim, could not have been the ‘Mastermind’ behind the attacks.

The families of the disappeared in Vavuniya, criticised the draft United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution, highlighting its failure to acknowledge Tamils, the need for an independent international accountability mechanism and nothing alluding to Tamil self-determination.

(Photo of APPGT Chair Elliot Colburn)

Following the publication of a draft UN resolution on Sri Lanka, a number of British MPs led by the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT) have called on British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, to go beyond the current resolution and consider referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court, as well as prepare files for independent criminal proceedings.