<p>The Permanent High Court will hear evidence in the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda from 20 February, reports <a href="http://colombogazette.com/2019/12/18/evidence-in-eknaligoda-disappearan…"><em>Colombo Gazette</em></a>.</p> <p>Mr Eknaligoda, a cartoonist, was investigating the use of chemical weapons by the army in the North-East during the armed conflict, prior to his abduction in 2010.</p>

The General Secretary of the Sinhala nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has been arrested by Sri Lankan police, after they decided to reopen a criminal case into a 2016 road traffic accident.

Champika Ranawaka, a former Sri Lankan government minister who defected from the previous Rajapaksa regime to back the United National Party, was remanded by the Colombo Magistrate.

Footage shows the nationalist politician being led away in handcuffs by Sri Lankan police, whilst his supporters had gathered outside the court complex.

Ranawaka is known for his history of hardline Sinhala nationalist stances.

A vigil was held in Amparai on Tuesday, honouring the mothers and fathers of disappeared Tamils who have died whilst campaigning to find the whereabouts of their children.

The candlelit vigil at Thambiluvil was attended by more than 100 people. They marched through the streets with a banner bearing the portraits of at least 58 activists who have passed away.

<p>Sri Lankan President Gotabaya&nbsp;Rajapaksa ruled out a federal solution to the ethnic conflict, <em>The Island </em>reported.&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking to editors and senior representatives of electronic media&nbsp;at the Presidential Secretariat, Gotabaya told them "there was no point&nbsp;wasting time on solutions that couldn’t be implemented," The Island wrote.&nbsp;</p> <p>Instead, Gotabaya claims&nbsp;that development of the North-East in the form of employment, education and health facilities will&nbsp;bring peace to the island.&nbsp;</p>

In a report released by the World Economic Forum on the Global Gender Gap, Sri Lanka saw its gap in gender parity continue to grow.

Over the last year, the island’s gender equality ranking declined from 100 to 102 out of 153 countries. A country once in the top quartile of nations for gender equality in the early 2000s has progressively declined from closing 72 percent of the gender gap in 2010 to 68 percent this year. 

United Nations peacekeepers deployed in Haiti, including Sri Lankan soldiers, have fathered hundreds of babies with young mothers - sometimes through sexual violence - before abandoning them, reports a new study published this week.

The study, published today on The Conversation, says that “girls as young as 11 were sexually abused and impregnated by peacekeepers and . . . ‘left in misery’ to raise their children alone”.

That includes Sri Lankan peacekeepers linked to a paedophilic sex ring in Haiti, where at least 134 soldiers exploited nine children from 2004 to 2006. The Sri Lankan military repatriated 114 of the soldiers after a group of children identified them as paedophiles, but none have ever been prosecuted. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed alarm following a recent wave of harassment and attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka, following the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

With the intensifying attacks against local media, including harassment and interrogation by police forces, the CPJ has called on authorities to "hold those responsible to account, and ensure that journalists can report freely in the country".

Senior Sinhala Buddhist monk Omalpe Sobitha has called for Sri Lanka to withdraw from the Commonwealth in retaliation to the newly elected British Prime Minister’s call for reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. 

Speaking at a press conference, the monk reacted to a video released by Boris Johnson on the eve of Britain's general election, by saying “he ends the speech by thanking in Tamils".

A Tamil man from Mannar has been reported missing by his family this week.

Thirty-year-old Antonis Nimal who is employed as an outreach officer at the Nanattan divisional council was last seen leaving for work on Saturday morning.

His wife reported him missing to Murungan police on Saturday night as he had not come home by 11pm, and family members say he had still not returned two days later.

The Swiss government has criticised Sri Lanka for a lack of due process following the arrest of one of its embassy employees in Colombo, after she claimed to have been abducted in the southern capital last month.

“Switzerland wishes to emphasise that in this high-profile case Sri Lanka's reputation as a country that upholds the rule of law is at stake,” said a Swiss government statement.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said it was “concerned” about the arrest and said it “has repeatedly called for due process to be followed”.