Sri Lanka should comply with the March 2014 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution, which created an international investigation into allegations of serious abuses by both sides, Human Rights Watch said today.

The New York-based organisation said Sri Lanka had resisted taking meaningful steps to investigate allegations of war crimes as recommended by previous resolutions in 2012 and 2013.

“The Sri Lankan government denounced the Human Rights Council resolution, yet for five long years it has failed to act on its promises to investigate and bring to justice wartime atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has arrived in China for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where Sri Lanka is an observer state.

The summit will be held in Shanghai until Thursday under the theme of “Increasing dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative”.

“CICA is a multinational forum comprising 24 countries and nine observer states including the US. Sri Lanka is attending the Summit for the first time,” Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake told the Daily News.

Foreigners married to Sri Lankan citizens will not be allowed to receive dual citizenship, according to new regulations currently under review by the Immigration Department reported the Daily Nation.

Previously a foreign spouse or widows/widowers of Sri Lankan citizens were eligible for citizenship if they were resident in the country for more at least 7 years.

The Labour party would seek to pass a resolution at the European Union in view of facilitating discussions on sanctions against Sri Lanka, party MEPs, MPs and running candidates, said at a press conference on Friday.

Claude Moraes, a Labour party MEP, said that the party stood ready to ask questions that looked to move further than the international war crimes investigation into Sri Lanka by raising resolutions in order to ensure justice for victims through different methods such as sanctions.

German Tamils have commemorated the fifth anniversary of Mullivaikal with a rally in the capital of the most populous German state North-Rhine Westphalia.

The Tamil Youth Organisation – Germany organised a flashmob outside the main train station of Düsseldorf. A subsequent march proceeded towards Graf Adolf Platz in the centre of the city, where cultural performances, by TYO and the Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen, were held and flowers and candles were laid in remembrance of the dead.

Hundreds light candles on Marina Beach in Chennai

In events across Tamil Nadu hundreds marked the 5 year anniversary of the end of the armed conflict on the island of Sri Lanka, when tens of thousands of Tamils were killed.

Hundreds gathered on Chennai’s Marina Beach, alongside Tamil politician Vaiko, with floral tributes and candles. Marking the death of the Balachandran, the young son the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Students Movement Children lit candles at a separate event.

An event was held at an orphanage in Tambaram held a candle-light vigil as tribute for the victims of the massacre. Chidambaram’s Youth and Student association also held a vigil outside a Chidambaram college with dozens of students participating.