The UN has awarded Sri Lanka’s peacekeeping force, Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLMAC), for their service in South Sudan, despite its history of human rights violations.

The award was presented on 27 May and commended SLMAC on its “medical standards, and commitment of strong contribution to hospital services”.

Updated 1430 GMT

^{File photograph: Arulingam with the then British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in 2016.}

Sri Lankan police have released a Tamil lawyer who was arrested as she attempted to enquire into the detention of Black Lives Matter protestors, as clashes broke out in Colombo yesterday.

Swasthika Arulingam was reportedly detained by Sri Lankan police, though it remains unclear as to the grounds on which she was held and if charges are to be pursued.

The Sri Lankan security forces have stepped up their presence outside a Buddhist centre in Jaffna, after stones were reportedly thrown at an enclosure around a Buddha statue earlier.

<p>In response to Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s announcement of a task force, which Rajapaksa claims will ensure a “secure country” and a “disciplined, virtuous and lawful society”, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has requested that he rescind this order, describing the task force as a threat to the rule of law.</p> <p>The ICJ has specific concerns over the legality of this taskforce, its broad and ambiguous mandates, as well as the fact that the task force is dominated by Sri Lanka’s security forces.</p> <p><strong>Military encroachment</strong></p>

Former Sri Lankan minister announced his decision of not contesting in Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary elections, after expressing “deep regret at the division” of the United National Party (UNP).

In a statement released this week, Samaraweera said he had informed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa of his decision and claimed he “succeeded in achieving progress for Matara as well as the country at large, yet a lot more still remains to be done”. 

The families of the disappeared in Mullaitivu have urged for support from the international community after being “continuously abandoned” by the Sri Lankan government to provide answers and justice for their missing loved ones.

Sri Lanka’s opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, has accused the government’s intelligence agencies of collecting data on civilians as part of a larger surveillance project, which will also see military intelligence officers in every polling station across the island at upcoming parliamentary elections.

As protests across the globe continued in response to George Floyd's murder, a viral video of "Parai" drummer, Thirumeni Balamurugan, captured an act of solidarity as the sound of the Parai resonated among protestors in Sydney, Australia. 

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said that an American diplomat who had reportedly refused to take a coronavirus test on arrival at Colombo’s international airport, returned to subsequently be tested and that “action” had been taken against those who let him leave the airport without being tested.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the diplomat had been allowed to evade testing procedures “due to an unclarified clause related to diplomatic privileges,” according to Economy Next.

Clashes broke out between protestors and Sri Lankan security forces in Colombo earlier today as the police broke up a ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstration.

Security forces had attempted to stop the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) organised protest, after they obtained a court order yesterday stating it could not be held due to coronavirus concerns.