The Chairman of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) has said the DNA of the families of the disappeared would be tested against remains excavated from the Manner mass grave, if radiocarbon dating tests reveal skeletal remains are of those who had died recently.

A 23-year-old Tamil youth was assaulted by the Sri Lankan army on Friday at a restaurant in Eechchankulam, Vavuniya. 

The youth, orginally from Kalmadu, was playing with friends at the local sports ground before he went to the army run restaurant near by, where he was assaulted by a group of soldiers after a verbal argument occurred between him and an army official. 

Displaced families in Keppapulavu who have been protesting continously for several months, rejected the idea of being granted alternative lands, reiterating their call to be allowed to return to their homes. 

The wife of a forcibly disappeared Tamil from Mannar has appealed for protection after she was harassed in her home by purported Sri Lankan intelligence personnel.

Anantharaja Edna Dias from Pesalai filed a complaint  with the Human Rights Commission, Mannar on February 13, stating that there were threats to her and her three children’s lives.

The Sri Lankan army continued its intrusion into civilian life in the Tamil North-East, organising a volleyball camp in Mullaitivu last week.

The Sri Lankan government’s failure to establish an accountability mechanism for violations of International law means that referral to the International Criminal Court or the creation of another international mechanism “would be fully warranted," said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council last week.

“Almost ten years after Sri Lanka emerged from a period of conflict and massive human rights violations, the Government of Sri Lanka still has largely failed to implement its human rights obligations and commitments as reflected in Resolution 30/1,” said the ICJ in its submission.

It went on to add:

Officers from a Sri Lankan government department were injured in altercations  in Mullaitivu this week, as they attempted to raid the homes of Tamil fishermen, accompanied by rival fishermen.

On February 13, officers from the Fisheries Department and members of fisheries organisations of Hijrapuram, Vadduvakal entered the homes of fishermen of Keppapulavu and searched them stating that there were banned fishing nets inside the houses.  The party were accompanied by an armoured Special Task Force (STF) vehicle.

This caused tensions between the search party and the residents, mainly women, which quickly escalated to altercations.

Residents in Kiran demonstrated this week against the local authority's failure to stop illegal sand mining taking place in the region. 

As Tamils across the North-East and diaspora called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure justice for the genocide of 2009, Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe renewed talk of a truth and reconciliation commission. 
 

Eight people who were returned from Reunion Island this week after fleeing Sri Lanka by boat were detained and held in remand on Thursday by Negombo Magistrate's Court.