What evidence does UK government need to sanction Sri Lankan Chief of Defence staff Shavendra Silva, who is credibility accused of involvement in mass atrocity crimes including extrajudicial executions and disappearances? Siobhain McDonagh MP raised this question in the UK parliament.

What more evidence foreign secretary needs to sanction against Silva, to follow the United States government in those sanctions for war crimes, she further asked.

We regularly engage with the US and other partners on issues relating to Sri Lanka, Amanda Milling, Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), said in her reply to McDonagh.

The UK government keeps all evidence and potential designations under the UK Global Human Rights sanctions regime under close review, guided by the objectives of the sanctions regime. We would not normally speculate about future sanctions targets, as to do so could reduce their impact, she further added.

#timetosanction #lka generals says .⁦@Siobhain_Mc⁩ in uk parliament – design by ⁦@T_E_M_P_L_O⁩ pic.twitter.com/GyboJ9koNr

— ITJP (@itjpsl) January 25, 2022

Sri Lanka is negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and is weighing an approach to the IMF, as the country struggles with a foreign reserve crisis that has left it close to default, the Financial Times reported.

Basil Rajapaksa, finance minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the government was “negotiating with everybody” and “trying all our options” to avoid default and alleviate the economic crisis.

“We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them. Then we have creditors and we have to service their debt, so whether we can have an adjustment or some type of thing,” he said.

Rajapaksa added that the government would “think about a programme with the IMF . . . All those discussions are going as well.”

Sri Lanka has almost $7bn in debt payments due this year but less than $3bn of foreign reserves.

Some Sri Lankan officials have insisted that the country can avoid this fate by boosting foreign currency reserves through tourism and exports while securing additional assistance from China and India, two of its largest benefactors. The central bank governor this week told CNBC that “we don’t need relief” from the IMF.

Minister Rajapaksa insisted the government could manage but was preparing for contingencies. “I know it’s very difficult because we have to pay this year $6.9bn and, additional to that, we have to find money for medicine, raw material, fuel, all these things,” he said.

Asked if he was negotiating a restructuring with bondholders, Rajapaksa replied, “something like that”.

“Obviously you can understand what we want and you can understand what the bondholders would like to have,” he was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

Ahead of the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) session in March, the government has worked a piece of legislation amending the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The new bill titled ‘Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill’ has been announced in the gazette notification ahead of its presentation in Parliament for debate and enactment later.

The UNHRC resolution 46/1 requests the Sri Lankan government to review the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and to ensure that any legislation on combating terrorism complies fully with the State’s international human rights and humanitarian law obligations. Sri Lanka has continuously come under pressure from the section of the international community that supported this resolution to take action in this regard. Besides, European Parliament, in its resolution, adopted the same, calls upon the same.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to make an update on Sri Lanka’s progress on the implementation of his resolution during the March session.

According to the provisions of the bill, the detention of any person has to be communicated to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in terms of section 28 of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 21 of 1996. The persons authorised by the Human Rights Commission should be allowed to visit the place of detention.

It envisages that every Magistrate who has received a certified copy of a detention Order is duty bound to visit the place of detention at least once in every month during the period to ensure that the suspect is protected to the extent provided for in the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No.22 of 1994.

A magistrate who visits such a place personally sees the suspect, and look into his well-being, welfare and conditions under which he is kept at such place of detention. He should record his observations and any complaint the suspect may make.

If a suspect has been subjected to torture, the magistrate concerned should direct him to be produced before a Judicial Medical Officer.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act, commonly known as PTA, was introduced in 1979. It was invoked mainly during the wartime to deal with the LTTE suspects.

Sri Lankan farmers have rejected a compensation offer and guaranteed purchase price for paddy for being inadequate and discriminatory.

“The farming community is not ready to accept the guaranteed price of 75 rupees [37 US cents] per kilo as it was not sufficient to cover the production costs of farmers,” said Namal Karunaratne, convener of the All Ceylon Farmers Federation.

He also criticized the decision to pay compensation to farmers who cultivated paddy only using organic fertilizer. “Compensation for crop losses should be paid to all farmers, whether it is paddy, vegetables or tea plantations. The government should pay more than 100,000 rupees per acre,” Karunaratne demanded.

The island nation’s farmers have been in crisis since the government banned chemical fertilizers and agrochemical imports in April 2021 to make the agriculture sector 100 percent organic.

The government decided to revoke the ban in November, allowing the private sector to import after a serious shortage of fertilizers across the nation and protests by farmers’ organizations and opposition parties.

Some farmers gave up cultivation during the season while others incurred huge debts as the crops failed due to a shortage of fertilizers.

Now the government has decided to pay compensation to all farmers who cultivated paddy during the season using organic fertilizer.

Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage said the cabinet had approved 40,000 million rupees as compensation meant for paddy farmers who used organic fertilizers.

Tea plantation workers and vegetable growers affected by crop damage are now demanding that the government compensate them as well for crop damages.

Rights activist Nalin Suresh Hewawadu alleged the ban on chemical fertilizer imports was initiated to tide over the foreign currency reserves crisis and not for the benefit of farmers.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey has arrived in Sri Lanka on a one-day official visit.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, accompanied by a 13-member delegation arrived at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport on a special flight from Turkey.

State Minister of Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasuriya and the Turkish Ambassador to Sri Lanka welcomed the delegation at the BIA.

The Turkish Foreign Minister and the delegation are scheduled to depart Sri Lanka at 3.15 pm today.

“Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, will pay official visits to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and to the Republic of Maldives on 28-30 January 2022,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

“All aspects of bilateral relations as well as current regional and international issues will be discussed at the meetings to be held during both visits,” the Ministry added.