Sri Lankan Prime Minister and war criminal, Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed for a moratorium on debt from international lenders during a meeting with the United Nations and UNICEF.

At age seven, I joined the Jaffna Library as a member of its children’s section. Every Saturday my friend and I would take orange juice and beetroot and Kraft cheese sandwiches, and go with her mother, then English teacher at Vembadi Girls School, to the library.

The US State Department said it had received “isolated reports of officials allegedly complicit in trafficking and reports of inadequate investigations” as it kept Sri Lanka on its Tier 2 Watch List on the Country Trafficking Scale, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Commemorating International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Pink News has interviewed a Tamil refugee and dancer who shared with them his experience of recovering from trauma, surviving as a refugee, and discovering his sexuality.

File photograph: US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has ruled in a landmark decision for the expedient removal of Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, a Tamil asylum seeker from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan security forces have reportedly arrested at least two people and carried out raids in Jaffna over the last week, stating that they have discovered guns and explosives in the region.

The army and police carried out a three-hour search of approximately 40 homes in Valvettithurai, after reports of explosives and a gun being discovered in a well. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued, with reports that two Tamils have been arrested.

Shops across Tamil Nadu have closed in protest after the deaths of a father and son in Tamil Nadu police custody earlier this week, with widespread outrage across the state.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for the Sri Lankan government-backed paramilitary leader Karuna to be investigated for crimes under international law, announcing that “accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka".

"We note that Karuna former LTTE commander and Government minister, is being questioned for alleged past crimes,” said the office in a tweet yesterday. “He should also be investigated for wholesale recruitment of child soldiers, a crime under international law. Accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka."

^{Karannagoda sits in between Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa}

Shanthi Sriskantharajah, a parliamentary candidate from Vanni, has written to the election commission in which she called for the reduction of the Sri Lankan military presence in Mullaitivu, to create conditions conducive for conducting peaceful and democratic elections this year.

Photograph by @streetsoftamileelam

After Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established an all Sinhala task force, which includes Buddhist monks and alleged war criminal to “preserve the historical heritage of Sri Lanka” in the Eastern province, we take a closer look at Sinhalisation efforts that have already taken place in the region.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and three other international human rights groups condemned the Sri Lankan police authorities’ assault on journalist Dharisha Bastians and stated they should immediately stop the “targeting, intimidating and harassing” and ensure Bastians’ safety.