The Sri Lankan army continued with its militarisation of Tamil children in the North-East, with yet another event at a preschool in Mullaitivu this week.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called on the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that Sri Lanka is given “a deadline for delivery” to implement commitments laid out in a resolution which mandates a hybrid accountability mechanism. 

Sri Lanka is one of the worst countries in the world for female participation in politics, according to data released by the United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union this week.

Data compiled by the organisations, which presents global rankings for women in the executive and parliamentary government, showed Sri Lanka ranking lower than countries such as Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Congo, amongst others.

Overall Sri Lanka ranked 183rd out of 191.

Local government officials in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are trying to exploit property issues to pressure struggling Tamils into obtaining death certificates for their forcibly disappeared family members, former Northern Provincial Council member and minister Ananthy Sasitharan has said.

<p>A Sinhalese youth has been arrested for growing cannabis in a house in Vavuniya.</p> <p>Special drug eradication officers operating under Vanni police said they had recovered three cannabis plants from a house in Mamadu.</p> <p>A Sinhalese youth was arrested under suspicion of having grown the plants, police said.</p>

A UK chief magistrate has ordered a retrial of a Sri Lankan brigadier after an initial conviction was quashed on procedural grounds in London earlier today, amidst claims of Sri Lankan officials photographing witnesses involved in the case.

A draft United Nations resolution on Sri Lanka has been tabled at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling on the Office of the High Commissioner to “continue to assess progress” in implementing previous resolutions that called for a hybrid accountability mechanism for another two years.

The home of a well-known Tamil journalist from Mullaitivu was broken into and burgled on Tuesday, with the journalist’s work equipment including a laptop and two cameras among the items stolen.

The body of a Tamil man reported missing from Batticaloa was found with his hands tied in a canal on Monday.

Kanapathipillai Thirunavukkarasu, aged 62, was reported missing on Sunday and his body was found the following day in a paddy field canal, with his hands tied behind his back.

Vellaveli police said they had made two arrests in connection with his death.

The Sri Lankan government must deliver on its promise of an internationalised justice process said Freedom from Torture (FFT) Chief Executive Sonya Sceats, in a statement released last week.

The Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) has reiterated calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or for an ad hoc international tribunal to be set up, in order to obtain justice for violations of international law, in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council this week.

Teachers across the North-East protested on Wednesday demanding better provisions for education.

Mirroring a campaign which took place across the island calling for the Sri Lankan government to allocate more funding for schools, teachers and school staff protested outside their schools on Wednesday morning.

Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena blamed “human rights” for hindering discipline at schools at a speech in Matara earlier this week.

Sirisena was quoted as stating that “the interference of the concept of human rights in the duty of teachers has made it a challenge for the task of building a better future generation”.

Muslims in Mannar have continued a protest for the release of their lands from Sri Lankan navy occupation for over three weeks.

Over 200 Muslim families from Silavathurai have been campaigning for the release of 35 acres of land from the Sri Lankan Navy. The protest passed 22 days on Wednesday.