Sri Lankan Buddhist monks staged a protest near the Presidential Secretariat today, demanding that the government continue its draconian policy of forced cremations, despite international backlash and guidance from World Health Organisation officials stressing that this was not needed to prevent coronavirus.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, former Sri Lankan Human Rights Commissioner, Ambika Satkunanathan, admitted that Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission could no longer be considered independent.

This statement follows Rajapaksa’s establishment of an all Sinhalese board to the Human Rights Commission in November under provisions of the recently passed 20th Amendment.

Satkunanathan told the paper:

Our track record, not just in relation to prison rights, but in relation to many human rights violations, is that we either have not inquired into violations or if we have inquired into them the "reports have not been impartial and objective or the reports have not been released or if the reports have been released no action has been taken to hold those responsible accountable for the violations”.

Accused war criminal and Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, has pledged that “operations to curb illegal drugs rings in the island would be further strengthened during the next year”.

Australian authorities have continued the detention of a Tamil asylum-seeking family from Biloela, which has spanned over a thousand days, despite the concern of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) which has called for their release until their legal case has been finalised.

An estimated 700 healthcare professionals have signed an open letter, supported by the AMA, expressing concern over the harm detention is inflicting upon the detained children, Kopkia, aged five, and Tharunicaa, aged tree.

Environmentalist express concern over the planned tripling of exploratory drilling done by Australian drilling company, Titanium Sands Ltd, in Mannar, which was announced in May of this year.

Daniel Franks, program leader of the development minerals strategic program at the University of Queensland, warns that such drilling could “dramatically transform the ecosystem”. Frank warns that it would “limit the land uses that the community already has for the islands” and that mining could impact groundwater in the region.

Tamils across the homeland held commemorative events today to remember the 35,000 victims of the devastating tsunami on December 26, 2004. 

Speaking on the issue of Tamil political prisoners, C.V. Wigneswaran, leader of the Tamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii (TMTK), highlighted the issues with the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which he has described as an “aberration”.

The legislation, Wigneswaran, whilst initially introduced 42 years ago as the “Temporary Provisions Act”, is now “used mostly now against the Tamils and all those arrested and kept in prisons for political reasons. 

Demonstrators in Jaffna voiced their discontent concerning Sri Lanka’s policy of compulsory cremations, as campaigns against Sri Lanka’s forced cremations intensify across the island.

Jaffna Muslims, Mosque authorities, Ulamas, and Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) activists and members held the protest at the 5-Lane Junction area in Jaffna today, condemning the state’s policy which opposes Islamic practices, and despite concerns raised by the UN, and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines stating that cremations for COVID-19 deaths are not compulsory.

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) has reported that on Christmas Eve, livestock owned by Tamil farmers in Mylathamadu and Maathavanai districts in Batticaloa has been killed and injured by Sinhala settlers settled by the Mahaweli Development Authority. 

Responding to an inquiry into the economy and political situation, by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley, Lord Ahmad, Britain’s Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth, the United Nations and South Asia, maintained that the “human rights situation remains concerning”.

The issues highlighted by Lord Ahmad includes the “harassment of civil society, continued militarisation of civilian functions, and increased anti-Muslim sentiment”.