Tamils in Amparai began a hunger strike yesterday calling on the international community to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The protest was staged outside Pandiruppu Amman temple in Kalmunai, Amparai, in solidarity with British Tamil activist Ambihai K Selvakumar who has been hunger striking for eight days, calling for decisive international action. 

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) staged a protest in Jaffna to stop the transfer of land documents related to the Northern Province to the Land Reforms Commission (LRC) office in Anuradhapura amidst police harassment. 

In their annual report, Freedom House has maintained that Sri Lanka is only “partly free” as they highlighted systemic discrimination against Tamils, violent threats from Sri Lanka’s security forces and Sinhala Buddhist extremists, forced Sinhalisation and land grabs, as well as a litany of further abuses.

An updated draft United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka was released this morning, showing some changes to the language of the text but still falling short on Tamil demands for an international accountability mechanism. 

Sri Lankan soldiers took over the role of the medical staff who were conducting a nation-wide strike in late February, as militarisation of the North-East intensifies. 

The medical staff abstained from work from February 24 to February 25, making a set of demands including the granting of promotions for government staff and assigning permanent employment to workers who have completed their probation period. 

The Sri Lankan Air force (SLAF) marked its 70th anniversary with a joint air display with the Indian Air force (IAF) in Colombo which was attended by accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Chief of the Indian Air force Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, as jet staged numerous flyovers and joint manoeuvres over the Katunayake Airbase following preparatory flyovers over the Galle Face Green.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee called on Washington to “reassert its leadership role on human rights and support calls for justice in Sri Lanka,” as the United Nations Human Rights Council continues to discuss a new resolution on accountability for mass atrocities.

In a series of tweets this week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee shared an op-ed piece by Ahimsa Wickrematunge, the daughter of murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, as she called for the international community to ensure “murderous autocrats pay a price”.

The daughter of murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge said that “Rajapaksa’s election has closed every door to human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka” in a piece for the Washington Post this week, as she called for the international community to ensure “murderous autocrats pay a price”.

“I hold Rajapaksa responsible,” wrote Ahimsa Wickrematunge.

Leeladevi Anandanadarajah, the secretary of the North-East Relatives of the Missing Persons Association, adressed the United Nation Human Rights Council this week, as she criticised praise of Sri Lanka’s domestic mechanisms, particularly the Office for Missing Persons (OMP), calling instead for a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Tamil families of the disappeared held a rally in Kilinochchi this week, calling on the international community to place sanctions on Sri Lankan officials accused of mass atrocities and for the state to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Protestors demonstrated on the roadside in the city, with banners calling for Magnitsky sanctions to be placed on Sri Lankan officials accused of rights abuses and for an ICC referral.