Canadian Tamil Congress welcoming the UNHRC resolution on the findings of the UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities noted that “a significant” amount of work still remained to be done to “earn the trust and support of the Tamil community.”

“While CTC acknowledges that this resolution is an important step in the right direction, we know there remains significant work to be done to ensure that the ensuing processes earn the trust and support of Tamil victims and war-affected communities.”

CTC went on to call for any accountability mechanism to involve international judges, investigators and prosecutors whilst highlighting the need for full consultation fo victims and confidence building measures.

The JVP says the UNHRC's resolution, calling on Sri Lanka to implement a credible justice mechanism to account for mass atrocities, poses some dangers to the country.

The government's claim that the resolution passed at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday called for a domestic justice mechanism was a "big lie", the National Freedom Front's leader Wimal Weerawansa said.

The MP pointed out that the resolution contained a proposal for setting up a hybrid court.

“Even though the word ‘hybrid’ has been removed in the adopted resolution, the mechanism proposed remains the same. Participation of foreign experts including investigators and judges has clearly been mentioned in the resolution. It is better to describe it as a foreign judiciary than to say a domestic mechanism,” Mr. Weerawansa said.

He stated that foreign experts were expected to arrive in the country to question the heads of the security forces and to punish those who were responsible for giving orders during the armed conflict.

The resolution on Sri Lanka, passed at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, "falls short" of ensuring the international justice mechanism long demanded by Tamils, the advocacy group PEARL said in a press release on Friday.

Welcoming the OISL report, the US-based organisation said the recommendations, highlighting Sri Lanka's inability to conduct a credible inquiry on its own, were not heeded in the drafting of the resolution.

"Despite the robust investigation conducted by the High Commissioner’s office and detailed recommendations which emphasize Sri Lanka’s inability to conduct a credible domestic inquiry, Resolution A/HRC/30/L29, passed yesterday by the UN Human Rights Council, falls short of ensuring an international accountability mechanism, consistently demanded by Tamil victims over the past 6 years," the statement said.

PEARL said Sri Lanka's past and current conduct demonstrated the lack of political will to implement a meaningful accountability mechanism, and called on the co-sponsors of the resolution, to ensure that said mechanism is satisfactory to all communities.

The United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) said it “joins in victims’ continuous and unequivocal calls for a strong international role in all transitional justice mechanisms” in Sri Lanka, in a statement released on Friday.

Stating that the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka and the OISL report provides “a way forward,” the organisation said “immediate confidence-building measures are also necessary”. 

“These include repeal of the odious Prevention of Terrorism Act, a review and strengthening of the Witness and Victim Protection Act and the urgent demilitarization of the North and East,” said Dr Karunyan Arulanantham, president of USTPAC. “Sri Lanka should also seize this opportunity to work towards a political solution that guarantees non-recurrence, with the help of the United States and India,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister pledged that “there will be no questions asked” on undeclared funds kept in Swiss bank accounts, as he appealed to Sri Lankan citizens to transfer cash back into the country.

With Sri Lanka having faced a fall in official reserves, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, appealed to those who have kept cash abroad to bring funds back to the island in order to shore up reserves.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed to have saved former president Mahinda Rajapaksa from going to the electric chair and averted an international probe into violations of international humanitarian law.

Speaking at a ceremony organized by the National Movement for Peace in Colombo on Friday, Mr Wickremesinghe said:

"I saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair as well as avoiding an international inquiry.”

"The present leadership was able to rescue the country by removing Sri Lanka from the agenda,” he added. “It was the former President who promised UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and USA to allow an international probe into alleged war crimes".

Mr Wickremesinghe also said his government had managed to change the view that Sri Lankan security forces had committed human rights violations.

"We have changed this and have been able to tell that the LTTE was responsible for human rights violation,” he told the audience. “We did not betray our Armed Forces.”

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena returned from his trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to a triumphant welcome, as Singhalese across the south celebrated the UNHRC resolution as a victory over the imposition of international involvement in a hybrid mechanism.

Huge crowds had gathered at the airport to receive the president, as Buddhist monks chanted and bestowed blessing on him.

Speaking soon after his arrival, President Sirisena said Sri Lanka "achieved a great victory", as the international community appreciated steps taken by the government to address human rights concerns, while the government succeeded in averting the "electric chair", an international investigation, and a hybrid special court in the resolution passed on Thursday.

The Sri Lankan army's landgrab efforts in a Kilinochchi village have been frustrated by fierce protest by landowners and locals.

Over 20 acres of privately owned land in Paramankirai have reportedly been spared from appropriation, although neighbouring villages in the district have now come under threat from landgrabs.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called on the Sri Lankan government to implement a UN resolution “in a spirit of honesty and cooperation,” in a statement to welcome its passage at the Human Rights Council last week.

Stating that the resolution “reflects a difficult consensus”, the TNA said it was “deeply mindful that any perceived compromise causes hurt to those most traumatized by the horrific crimes that have been committed in Sri Lanka”. “Nevertheless, the resolution – if implemented – provides a genuine opportunity for real progress on accountability and reconciliation,” it added.

The statement went on to say:

“We welcome the Resolution’s encouragement of Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of the UN High Commissioner’s Report. In this regard, we urge the government to implement the resolution in a spirit of honesty and cooperation, in particular, the Council’s affirmation of the need for the participation of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, prosecutors, investigators and lawyers in a court enabled to try international crimes, through a Special Counsel for prosecutions.”

In particular the TNA highlighted the “critical importance of the government’s commitment to a political settlement through necessary constitutional measures” as well as the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the return of lands to owners, the ending military involvement in civilian activities, restoring normality in civilian life and cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and special procedures.

“It is now incumbent on the government to implement the resolution,” the TNA concluded. “The resolution, by itself, will not win back the confidence of victims. That would require meaningful implementation in a spirit of cooperation. We call on the government to exhibit the courage to create a conducive atmosphere for implementation.”