The US government will look to provide $31 million of assistance in strengthening governance, democratic reform, civil society and reconciliation efforts said the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Speaking during the State Department's budget proposals for the next fiscal year, Mr Kerry said,

“Resources will be used to encourage reconciliation efforts and support anti-corruption activities – key foci as the government undertakes major reforms during the political transition.”

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Accountability Panel, expressing concern at recent rejections by Sri Lanka’s president on the need for an international component to the accountability process, called on the UN Rights Chief to insist that Sri Lanka implements the UNHRC resolution.

Noting President Sirisena’s rejection of international involvement, the monitoring panel said,

Sri Lanka’s prime minister has set up a Global Affairs Committee to oversee the workings of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Sources close to the head of the Ministry Mangala Samaraweera said that the Mr Samaraweera was disappointed with the appointment of an overseeing committee. Mr Samaraweera allegedly added that he would not allow any party to interfere with the affairs of his ministry, reports Asianmirror.lk.

Sri Lanka’s ‘joint opposition’ which consist of a group of parliamentarians loyal to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa threatened to disrupt parliamentary proceedings unless they were recognised as a separate entity, reports Colombo Page.

The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Ranjith Zoysa said the group had requested that the parliamentary speaker recognise them as an independent group in parliament, stating that there were 52 MPS in the group that wanted to be treated as a separate entity.

The UNP's Vijayakala Maheswaran, the state minister for child affairs has refused to hoist the Sri Lankan flag at a function in Jaffna on Monday night.

Ms Maheswaran, who is Tamil, was the chief guest at the opening of a science lab in the Meesalai Veerasingam College in Thenmaratchi, in the Jaffna district.

"I have been a member of parliament for six years. However not one day have I hoisted the lion flag out of principle and I will not give up on this principle," she said.

UNHRC spokesperson Rupert Colville says the media had 'slightly misconstrued' the high commissioner's comments on Tamil political prisoners.

Mr Colville, who accompanied High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to Sri Lanka, said he did not want to 'interfere in the release of the detained alleged LTTE cadres and that he was 'non-committal'.

International participation in Sri Lanka’s accountability process is an important aspect in ensuring genuine accountability amidst war crimes allegations and widespread sexual violence, said the United Nations Human Rights Chief Zeid Al Hussein, at the end of his visit to the island this week.

Stressing the importance of international participation, the Human Rights Chief said Sri Lanka's justice system over the years "became highly politicised, unbalanced, unreliable".

"The country’s history over the past few decades is littered with judicial failures," he added, noting “virtually every week provides a new story of a failed investigation, a mob storming a court room or another example of a crime going unpunished". 

Stating that a recently passed UN resolution, which calls for international participation in an accountability mechanism, had "laid out an eminently sensible pathway for the country to follow", Mr Hussein stressed that his office would be "reporting back to the Council on progress — or lack of it — next June, and again in March 2017".

He also highlighted ongoing human rights violations and the lack of accountability for them in his statement. “Sexual violence and harassment against women and girls is particularly poorly handled by the relevant State institutions — especially when the alleged perpetrators are members of the military or security services — and, as a result it remains all too widespread,” noted the High Commssioner.

Mr Hussein said torture and sexual violence by Sri Lanka's security forces was ongoing, acknowledging reports detailing cases that took place last year, after the current government came into power.

Highlighting the heavy military presence in the North-East, Mr Hussein said,

“In parallel, the size of the military force in the North and the East can be reduced to a level that is less intrusive and intimidating, as a first step in security sector reform".

The Human Rights Chief further called on Sri Lanka’s military return land that it is occupying in the Tamil North-East. "The military needs to accelerate the return of land it has seized and is still holding to its rightful owners," he said. "While some land has been returned in the Jaffna and Trincomalee areas, there are still large tracts which can and should be swiftly given back. Once the land has been given back, the remaining communities of displaced people can — if given the necessary assistance — return home, and a lingering sore will have been cured once and for all."

Drawing on Sri Lanka’s prime minister’s recent remarks that all disappeared persons could be presumed dead, Mr Hussein said it had caused "great distress among their families" and "this statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or been killed, properly account for their deaths – including whether or not they were unlawful – identify the location of their remains, and provide redress”.

Commenting on his visits to the North-East Mr Hussein said,

“When you visit Colombo, you see a bustling city… When you visit the North and the East, you see, in patches at least, damaged and depressed areas, poverty and continued displacement."