UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain said the Sri Lankan government needs to move faster on releasing land held by the military, reviewing cases of Tamil detainees and resolving the issue of disappearances.

Speaking at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr Hussain said the national consultations on designing a trasnitional justice mechanism must be held in an environment "free of surveillance and intimidation".

The high commissioner stressed the importance of accountability and transitional justice. See remarks on Sri Lanka below:

"If past human rights violations are not adequately addressed, grievances and other issues at the root of the past conflicts will continue to fester, and may even lead to their recurrence.

"There are important lessons in this respect for Sri Lanka, which is on its own journey toward accountability, reconciliation and durable peace.

China will be allowed to go ahead with its plans to construct the long-touted port city in Colombo, despite the controversy surrounding its links with the previous government under Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“The cabinet committee on economic management has recommended allowing resumption of the project subject to limitations and conditions stipulated in the EIA (environmental impact assessment),” the government said in a statement.

Standard & Poor's ratings agency has lowered the outlook on Sri Lanka’s 'B+' long-term sovereign credit rating to negative from stable, citing rising fiscal and external imbalances, Economy Next reported.

The downgrade comes a week after Fitch also took the step to downgrade outlook to B+.

Standard & Poor's confirmed the 'B+/B' ratings and the 'B' short-term credit rating and left its transfer and convertibility risk assessment on Sri Lanka unchanged at 'B+'.

“Sri Lanka's external and fiscal performances have underperformed our expectations,” a statement by the firm said. “A high government debt and interest burden, and gaps in institutional capacity constrain its policy options and responsiveness.

Malaysian activist Lena Hendry was acquitted of censorship charges in relation to a screening of the No Fire Zone documentary which she organised.

Magistrate Mohd Rehab Mohd Aris said that the prosecution failed to establish a “prima facie” case against Ms Hendry and thus she need not enter her defence, the Malay Mail reported.

The activist could have been jailed for up to three years on charges under Section 6(1)(b) of the Malaysian  Film Censorship Act 2002 for screening the No Fire Zone documentary without the approval from the Censorship Board.

Her lawyer New Sin Yew was grateful that the court agreed with their arguments against what he described as a “frivolous” charge.

Tamil protestors gathered outside the Northern Province Chief Minister's office on Wednesday, demanding officials take action against violence against children.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said to parliament on Tuesday that the government was working on repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Mr. Samaraweera said the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, was entrusted with the task of formulating an alternative draft law in keeping with international practices, and had just submitted a draft.

TNA leader, and leader of the opposition R Sampanthan on Tuesday slammed the government for its continuing failure to release Tamil political detainees and urged Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena to release them immediately.

Rehabilitation and Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan said on Tuesday that out of 218 Tamil political detainees, 39 persons were, in November last year, released on bail. 19 of those were recommended for rehabilitation before their eventual release, however only three had accepted the controversial programme.