The prospect of the Rajapaksa clan capturing a two-thirds majority in the upcoming Sri Lanka parliamentary elections has left many on the island fearing what the future may hold, reports The Economist this week.

“They could roll back constitutional changes brought in by the previous government that trimmed the president’s powers,” it said this week. 

 

Paul Newey and his son, Dan Newey were both charged for terrorism-related offences in a pretrial hearing last month, as the British government continues to clamp down on people involved with and in support of the Rojava revolution. 

“A large number of Tamils in Sri Lanka have died while in protest demanding the government to reveal the fate of their loved ones who are victims of enforced disappearances,”Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) reports. 

“Already 69 mothers in our protest have died due to stress and various illnesses without finding solution to their grievances,” Leeladevi Anandanadaraja, the General Secretary of the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared told the 43rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The Geneva Director of Human Rights Watch urged on the Core Group of countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead the call for an international justice mechanism on Sri Lanka “instead of placing faith in empty government promises”.

Sri Lanka’s Tamils who are “concentrated in the country’s north say the area still suffers from a lack of development, despite promises by its new President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,” Charles Stratford reports for Al Jazeera.

A decade on from the end of the armed conflict, “government promises of investment have all failed to materialise.”

Gotabaya is “deeply distrusted” by Tamils due to his role as the Defence Secretary in 2009, where he oversaw the military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils.

<p>The election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka “sent shockwaves across the Tamil-dominated northeast - where memories of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa's brutal presidency, marked by mass atrocities and enforced disappearances, remain fresh,” writes&nbsp;Mario Arulthas, Advocacy Director at People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), in a piece for Al Jazeera this week.</p>

Since the Sri Lankan civil war ending ten years ago, “there has been little progress in tracing those who disappeared during and after the violent end to the war,” the BBC reports. 

In a video report, the BBC states that around 20,000 Tamils are estimated to still be missing. 

“Many believe their relatives are alive and in the hands of the security forces - a view rejected by the government. These families meet and hold daily vigils to protest and to keep their relatives’ memories alive.”

Writing in the Tamil Guardian on November 27th, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks on his work with British Tamils and his party's commitment to human rights and justice.

Writing in the Tamil Guardian on November 27th, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson speaks on genocide recognition, justice for mass atrocities and her party’s commitment towards supporting British Tamils.

<p>Newly elected President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has begun concentrating power in his own family by appointing his brothers Mahinda and Chamal as ministers,&nbsp;writes Hannah Ellis-Peterson, in an article&nbsp;for The Guardian.&nbsp;</p> <p>Gotabaya's "win marked a return to power for the Rajapaksa family, which has been one of the most dominant political dynasties in Sri Lanka&nbsp;for over a decade. Their previous time in power was marked by human rights abuses, disappearances and a stranglehold over the judiciary and police."</p>