The current situation in Sri Lanka underlines why an international approach is often the only way of ensuring that perpetrators of war crimes are held accountable for their misconduct, writes Graham Newsome in International Policy Digest.

<p>Moody, a global rating agency, has placed Sri Lanka on a list of countries which may have their rating decreased if their economic situation worsens meaning that Sri Lanka may lose its B2 rating and be seen as a greater risk for investors.</p> <p>This statement follows calls from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's President, and&nbsp;Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Prime Minister, call for an easing of the lockdown.</p>

Hundreds of villagers across the district of Vavuniya found to be living in very poor housing conditions in the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, are on the verge of dying from starvation as the government continues to neglect on providing support to these vulnerable villagers.

With the nationwide military-headed lockdown in place, villagers - of which many are labourers - have become particularly vulnerable and struggling to even have afford one meal a day, due to the lack of income.

Humanitarian organisations have teamed up with a children’s author to create a storybook on how to stay safe from the coronavirus in Tamil, as part of a global initiative to provide accessible information in different languages around the world.

“My Hero Is You,” a new illustrated book by Helen Patuck, was project developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG) with support from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and Save the Children.

The father of another disappeared Tamil teenager has died, more than a decade after his son was forcibly disappeared, and still with no answers as to his whereabouts.

Ponniah Nagarasa, a father from Pudukkudiyiruppu area, passed away yesterday.

The Australian Federal Court has ruled in favour of the Tamil asylum-seeking Biloela family stating that two-year-old Tharunicaa was not “afforded procedural fairness” in making her application - a decision that prevents the family from being deported until the process is resolved.

Responding to the court’s decision a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs stated;

Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran warned that a military enforced curfew had left people in the North-East “near starvation”, whilst Sri Lankan government bodies have refused to release emergency funds in the region.

Former Sri Lankan minister and leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Rishad Bathiudeen MP has spoken out against the arrest of his brother in connection with last year’s Easter Sunday attacks, alleging that the arrest was an act of political revenge.

The former minister’s brother Riyaz Bathiudeen was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Puttalam on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is currently considering resuming day-to-day economic activity at the provincial level to safeguard the national economy, reports the President’s Media Division.

Rajapaksa has instructed the  Provincial Directors of Health to issue recommendations to ensure normal activities in the industrial, agricultural and business sector through the Director-General of Health.

He further stated that relaxing restrictions will be considered at each province on a case by case basis.

The family of a prominent Muslim lawyer have denounced his arrest as “illegal and arbitrary,” stating it was acarried out by Sri Lankan authorities “with the intention of stifling dissent” after he was  arrested over the alleged involvement in the Easter Sunday bombings a year ago.

Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on Tuesday, alongside six other people.