The rights of Tamils as individuals and as a People have been violated over the course of time by successive Sri Lankan governments said the Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran in his statement to mark World Human Rights Day.

Sri Lanka’s former Supreme Court judge, in his statement issued in Tamil and English, quoting article one of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights said,

“The legitimate right of self-determination has been denied to the Tamils instead their right to equality, a central human right, has been violated throughout the period of Sri Lanka’s existence. The right to life of individual Tamils has been violated through extra-judicial killings in which the State and its agents actively participated. There has been no accountability for any of the killings that have taken place.”

On the right to liberty, Mr Wigneswaran added,

“Again a non-defeasible right stated in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights continues to be violated with the incarceration of many hundreds of young Tamils detained without trial or deprived of proper hearings. Their continued imprisonment is a continuing violation of this important right by the Government of Sri Lanka.”

Welcoming the establishment of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and drawing upon an Northern Provincial Council passed in February, the Chief minister of the predominantly Tamil Northern Province said,

The UK opposition MPs have expressed concern about the British government's decision last month provide £6.6 million to the Sri Lankan government which will include funds towards military reform without sufficient clarity on what sort of reform is expected.

A senior US official will visit Sri Lanka between December 14 and 16 and will visit the North-East.

Ambassador Thomas Shannon, Counselor of the Department of State, will travel to the island with Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Manpreet Singh Anand.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said there was continued weakness in the structure of Sri Lanka’s public finances and cited “reasons for concern” as it concluded the Fourth Post-Program Monitoring.

In a press release on Wednesday the IMF said Sri Lanka’s “economic outlook remains uncertain, and will depend to a large extent on the course set for economic policies in the coming months”.

“Deterioration in the overall balance of payments, the loss of central bank foreign exchange reserves, the weak state of public finances, and growing public debt are reasons for concern,” said the statement.

“Despite continued access to international debt markets, these trends suggest that financial risks for Sri Lanka have increased,” it added. “To mitigate these risks, the authorities should take appropriate corrective actions to safeguard macroeconomic stability and lay the foundation for durable and inclusive growth. Improvements in the business climate, reform of state owned enterprises, and a more open trade regime are key to boosting competitiveness and growth.”