Tamil families of the disappeared marched through Kilinochchi today, calling for justice for their forcibly disappeared family members, and for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The protesters marched bearing ‘thee-chatti’ (fire-pot) - clay pots containing live coals - on their heads, performing a traditional Tamil practice of penance or vow-fulfilment.

The march marked 4 years since families of the disappeared began continuous roadside protests across the North-East, demanding the whereabouts of their family members, the majority of whom had been handed over to the Sri Lankan Army at the end of the armed conflict in May 2009.

"We have been fighting non-stop for four years, and we have been waiting for our children to return for twelve years. Still there is no justice," one protester said. "That is why we carry black flags."

Sri Lanka's Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara has vowed to introduce a bill to ban Tamil MPs from mentioning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and it's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in parliament. 

A Tamil mother, who spent 12 years searching for her missing son who was forcibly disappeared, died in Mullaitivu. Kanagamani– a mother of five from Kaiveli, Puthukkudiyiruppu – passed away on Thursday from an illness-related death

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) politicians were subjected to questioning by Sri Lankan police at their respective offices yesterday over their participation in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) march earlier this month. 

Sri Lankan police claimed to have recovered two faulty 'suicide vests' in the Chinnathambanai forest area in Vavuniya on Thursday (18^th Feb).

The Sri Lankan army prepares for another UN peacekeeping deployment this week, at the behest of an accused war criminal and with another soldier who was convicted over gesturing death threats to Tamils at the helm, despite repeated calls to suspend all deployments of Sri Lankan troops following the release of the UN human rights chief’s damning report.  

Tamil politicians from the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have expressed their opposition to receiving the Covid-19 vaccination from military hospitals.  

Selvarajah Kajendran, a TNPF parliamentarian, said that politicians from their party will not be vaccinated at hospitals run by the Sri Lankan military, who are responsible for the genocide of the Tamil people. 

A draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka has called on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights “to consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials, as it noted the lack of accountability for mass atrocities through domestic mechanisms and called for enhanced “monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka”.

Writing in advance of the official state visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International has called on Pakistan’s leader to urge Sri Lanka to end its draconian policy of forced cremations and bring an end to the on-going discrimination faced by Muslims in Sri Lanka.

(Photos credit: HometoBilo)

The Australian Federal Court upheld an April 2020 ruling that the government’s handling of the visa application of the youngest Australian-born daughter of the Tamil family from Biloela, Tharnicaa, denied her procedural fairness.