Following a whirlwind tour of Sri Lanka, where she met Sri Lanka's political leaders, the Deputy Managing Director of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) Asia and Pacific division, Paola Pampaloni reaffirmed the European Union’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka during this “difficult period” but stressed the need to see progress on accountability and the protection of democratic freedoms.

The interviews come as news breaks that Sri Lanka’s Presidential Envoy to Europe and Commonwealth, Niranjan de Silva Deva Aditya (Nirj Deva), is reportedly seeking for Sri Lanka to join the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), expand concessions for Sri Lanka under the GSP+ agreement with the EU, and to strike a free trade agreement.

Plainclothed Sri Lankan military officers took photographs of Tamils preparing for Maaveerar Naal at Koppay Thuyilum Illam. 

Students at the University of Jaffna paid tribute to those who gave their lives to the Tamil liberation struggle today. 

With the beginning of month of November, commemoration events have commenced to mark Maaveerar Naal.

Responding to continuing land grabs by Sri Lanka's regime, Jaffna University's Student Union has organised a sit-in protest in Tellippalai to demand the return of land to villagers in Valikamam.

Not only does acting on Sri Lanka provide Sunak the opportunity to re-establish Britain’s presence internationally, it also remains entirely in British interests to do so. Successive Sri Lankan regimes have shirked off the building of any rules-based international order and refused to comply with global norms. Holding the state to account will be a demonstration that to the British government, values matter. The UK will not condone mass atrocities or genocides from Bucha and Xinjiang to Jaffna and Mullivaikkal.

Sri Lanka is not Sunak’s toughest test on the global stage at present. In fact, it should be his easiest. If Sunak wants to build a Global Britain, this is where he should start.

Tamil families of the disappeared protested against Sri Lanka’’s justice minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe's visit to Jaffna earlier today. 

Following growing demands to release all Tamil political prisoners, Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe met with the relatives of those detained alongside the leader of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootan (TMTK), CV Wigneswaran.

On October 30, 1995, over half a million Tamil men, women and children fled their homes in Jaffna as the Sri Lankan military launched a military offensive to capture the peninsula, under the leadership of then president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Sri Lankan soldiers took photographs of Tamils as they began clearing the Theravil Thuyilum Illam (LTTE martyr resting places) this morning ahead of Maaveerar Naal. 

Seven Tamil Nadu fishermen have been remanded until November 9th after being arrested for allegedly fishing in Sri Lankan waters. 

The seven fishermen were arrested on Wednesday by the Sri Lankan navy who were patrolling the area. 

Amidst growing concern over Sri Lanka’s human rights record, a delegation for the European Union paid a visit to the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, R. Sampanthan, where they discussed GSP +, the need to repeal Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act; provincial council elections; and Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.

Following the appointment of Britain’s first non-white Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, Sri Lanka’s President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, rushed to congratulate the UK’s new leader and claimed confidence that British-Sri Lankan relations would strengthen.

During his visit to Jaffna, the US embassy's deputy chief of mission, Doug Sonnek, met with the Families of the Disappeared and Tamil politicians from across the North-East.

As a new British Prime minster takes office, Tamils across the country will be watching closely. It is indeed historic that Rishi Sunak will be the first person of South Asian office to hold the highest office in the country. However, both domestically and internationally, he will have his work cut out for him.