Sri Lanka has officially defaulted on its international debt for the first time in its history amidst warnings of accelerating inflation,  as the island’s economic crisis continues.

Colombo had a 30-day grace period to make a payment of approximately US$78m, but that expired on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of Tamils across the North-East marked Tamil Genocide Day. The next day, Sri Lanka was officially into what some analysts called a “hard” default.

Ahead of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue Alliance’s (QUAD) meeting on 22 May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged leaders of the four-member states to address (the United States, India, Japan and Australia) to address democratic backsliding in Asia.

“The Quad needs to place Asia’s massive human rights and humanitarian crises at the heart of its discussions and decisions,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

He further added:

Yesterday was Tamil Genocide Day, a day of solemn remembrance and collective mourning. Across the Tamil homeland and around the world, millions commemorated their kith and kin who were deliberately and systematically massacred by the Sri Lankan state. This year, as flames were lit and flowers laid across the North-East, political turmoil continues to rage across the South. Whilst Colombo’s politicians tussle for power, international focus remains on whether Sri Lanka will be able to climb out of the crisis in which it has landed. May 18, more than any other day, served as a reminder that unless deep-rooted structural changes are enacted and the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism confronted, it never will.

The head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu claimed that if Narendra Modi was the Indian prime minister in 2009 the massacres at Mullivaikkal would not have happened, as he controversially addressed a genocide memorial event this week.

Tamils in Denmark held a rally in Copenhagen today to mark 13 years since the massacre at Mullivaikkal and to demand justice for the war crimes committed by Sri Lanka. 

They rallied towards Kongens Nytorv before gathering outside Danish parliament where attendees laid flowers to pay their respects to the victims of the Tamil genocide. Mullivaikkal kanji was also served at the end of the event to remember the struggles faced by Tamil trapped in the No Fire Zones in May 2009. 

People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) called on the international community to push Sri Lanka "to take meaningful steps toward achieving justice and accountability for its past and ongoing crimes, demilitarisation, and a sustainable, long-term political solution for the Tamil people" as the Tamil nation marks Tamil Genocide Day. 

Speaking at the Mullivaikkal Remembrance event in London Sam Tarry, Labour MP and shadow minister for Buses and Local Transport, called on the UK government to apply targeted sanctions on those responsible for human rights abuses and stressed the need for demilitarisation across the Tamil homelands. 

He added,

Canada's House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, in a landmark move making it the first parliament in the world to recognise the Tamil genocide.

Marking Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, US Democratic Senator Wiley Nickel expressed his solidarity with the Tamil people and highlighted their "right to self-determination, to peacefully and democratically determine their own political future"

The North Carolina Senator added

"Today, Tamils in Sri Lanka and around the world are commemorating Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. Tamils must be given justice and the right to self-determination, to peacefully and democratically determine their own political future."

British Tamil businesses distributed kanji across London on Tamil Genocide Day, to honour the victims and survivors of the Mullivaikkal genocide that took place 13 years ago. 

Kanji - a porridge of rice and water - was the only food available to Tamils trapped in the Sri Lankan government declared 'No Fire Zones' as food, medicines and other necessities were heavily restricted from entering the Vanni during the final phase of the armed conflict.