Speaking at a virtual meeting  focused on the ongoing UN Human Rights Council session, Sri Lankan foreign secretary, Jayanath Colombage denied the need for external mechanisms claiming that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had praised the country for the steps it had taken.

On Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission (HRCSL) visited Anuradhapura prison as part of their investigation into State Minister, Lohan Ratwatte, after he had stormed the prison and forced Tamil prisoners to kneel before him at gun point.

Speaking at the 48^th UNHRC session, the EU delegation expressed regret that Sri Lanka “no longer support the UN framework to address the legacy of the past conflict, to ensure acknowledgements for victims, and to foster accountability, reconciliation and human rights”.

Responding to the news that Sri Lankan State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation, Lohan Ratwatte, forced detained Tamil inmates at Anuradhapura prison to kneel down at gunpoint, Amnesty International has demanded “a prompt, impartial and effective inquiry”.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) paid tribute to Lt Col Thileepan in Nallur today, to remember the hunger strike he undertook in protest against the failure of the Indian government to honour the pledges made to the Tamil people.

Tamil journalist and treasurer of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association Union, Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran, was interrogated yesterday by Sri Lanka's Special Crime Prevention Unit of the Batticaloa Senior Superintendent of Police's office yesterday. 

A British-Tamil family of a four-year-old leukaemia patient from East London has called for more people from South Asian backgrounds, to sign up to the bone marrow register, with a stem cell donor needed within the next few days. 

Sri Lankan state minister Lohan Ratwatte forced Tamil inmates detained in the Anuradhapura prison to kneel down at gunpoint on Sunday, sources revealed. Ratwatte was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when he entered the premises and demanded Tamil prisoners to perform the humiliating act. 

Today marks 34 years since Lt Col. Thileepan began his hunger strike at Nallur Kandaswamy Temple in protest against the failure of the Indian government to honour the pledges made to the Tamil people. 

Another Tamil father has died following a 12 year search for his forcibly disappeared son. 

Sevamalai Rasathurai, from Mathiyamdu Puliyankulam had been searching for his son Rasathurai Viji who was forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lankan army at the end of the armed conflict. 

Writing to the UN High Commissioner, the Secretary General of Eezha Tameizhar Suadchi Kazhakam, Ananthy Sasitharan, and former member of the northern provincial council, M.K. Shivajilingam, urged the UN to take urgent steps to uphold the right self-determination for Tamils and to prevent the recurrence of patterns of violence.