You must be getting sick of receiving updates from us, but the situation is changing rapidly and we want to keep you up to date. Here is the latest:
- The Indian Prime Minister has confirmed that he is not going to be attending the Commonwealth Summit, following pressure from Tamil political parties.
- The British Prime Minister is still going, but has called for an Independent International Investigation in Sri Lanka if there is no meaningful progress. This is the first time the British PM has used the word international in this way.
- The Sri Lankan Government have handed out a 222 page paper attacking the journalism of Channel 4 news to every journalist attending the Commonwealth Summit. Channel 4 have refuted the claims the book makes here.
- Two Members of Parliament, from Australia and New Zealand respectively, were detained when they arrived in Sri Lanka. Lee Rhiannon and Jan Logie, both Green Party politicians, are believed to be safe but have had their passports confiscated.
- The full BBC documentary, in which brave victims of sexual violence make allegations that in the programme are judged to amount to a crime against humanity, is now available online. In the UK you can watch it here, outside the UK it is currently only available in 3 parts: pt1, pt2, pt3
All in all it has been a good week for the campaign for peace and justice and a bad week for the President of Sri Lanka. And a lot of that is down to your pressure and activism. Thank you, and well done.
But we mustn’t get too triumphant. The leaders of 50 world nations are still on their way to fete a regime in which we know systemic rape and torture takes place, and which has the blood of around 70,000 civilians on its hands.
Now is the perfect time to press home our advantage, and keep the pressure up.