Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin unveiled a host of welfare benefits for Eelam Tamil refugees in a speech delivered to the legislative assembly on Friday. The measures range from establishing new settlements and upgrading existing dwellings to scholarships for students of Eelam Tamil origin. 

In advance of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a statement slamming the Sri Lankan government for denying preventing the “families of the disappeared from learning the truth about their loved ones” and for protecting the perpetrators from accountability.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have called on Sri Lankan police to stop harassing Batticaloa journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and "let him work without interference." 

Australia’s High Commissioner to Colombo, David Holly, met with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peris on Wednesday to discuss bilateral relations despite concerns over Sri Lanka’s dire human rights record.

On Twitter, the High Commissioner stated:

In a joint letter addressed to the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police, Chandana Wickramaratne, six media organisations express concern over the continued arrest and intimidation of journalists on the island.

Mangala Samaraweera, a formidable figure in Sri Lankan politics who previously held several ministerial posts, passed away from COVID-19 at a private hospital in Colombo this week. News of his death was met with international tributes from senior political figures worldwide, including the United States, UK, Europe and India. Many of those messages mourned the loss of a man that came to espouse the type of liberal Sri Lankan politics that reverberated with those powers. His passing will therefore be a particular blow to longstanding Western efforts that seek active partners amongst the Sinhala Buddhist polity for the liberal order project.

In a joint statement leading international Tamil rights groups have called upon their respective governments, as well as international and regional powers, to intervene to find a “just solution to the long-lasting Tamil National Question in Sri Lanka”.

Photo credits: Jaya Bathuri

Former Sri Lankan minister Mangala Samaraweera passed away from COVID-19 on Tuesday, following admission into an Intensive Care Unit at a private hospital in Colombo earlier this month.

Responding to a letter signed by 10 party leaders, which called for a three-week lockdown to the delta variant of the coronavirus, Sri Lanka’s ruling party,  Sri Lanka Podujana Preamuna (SLPP), has slammed the signatory of engaging in a conspiracy to discredit the government.

A protest was held against the attempted land grab in Jaffna, in which four acres of private land were taken for the Karkovalam Army camp.

Koneshwaran Krishnapillai, a Tamil refugee and father of three, has died after setting himself on fire on Friday, following years of uncertainty regarding his immigration status in Australia. 

Following attempted suicides by Eelam Tamil refugees detained in a “Special Camp” in Trichy Central Jail last week, a committee of Tamil Americans has written a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, urging him to release the detainees. 

Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested the Chief Secretary of the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ananda Palitha, after he issued a warning over the country’s fuel shortage.