Sri Lanka’s envoy in Geneva has returned to its old tricks said the Human Rights Watch Geneva Director John Fisher, in a comment on negotiations around a draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on the findings of the UN investigation into Sri Lanka’s atrocities.

"Against a decades long backdrop of politically motivated interference and inaction on justice issues, there is simply no basis – whatever the sincerity of top officials – to be condiment of Sri Lanka’s ability to deliver justice without a significant international role," he added.

Protestors in Jaffna took part in a hunger strike on Tuesday outside the Valikamam North High Security Zone, demanding to be resettled in their native land.

The protestors stated that they had been displaced for almost three decades by the Sri Lankan military, which had taken over their village. They said that if they were not displaced, the protestors would continue their hunger strike.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe denied discussing the CEPA trade agreement during his visit to India.

Briefing Sri Lanka’s parliament on his visit to India, Mr Wickremesinghe said,

“No discussions were held on CEPA. The Indians didn’t even bring up the topic. Certain media institutions are trying to create public opinion which is harmful to both countries. The Ada newspaper has reported on constructing a bridge joining the two countries, but we haven’t discussed anything in New Delhi.”

“We will take action to improve economic cooperation between the two countries and to enter into an agreement. We expect this economic cooperation program to help create one million employment opportunities in Sri Lanka," he added.

Residents of a town in Vavuniya held a demonstration on Sunday calling for the removal of an army camp, following the death of a local woman caused by the camp's electrified fence.

55 year old Kanthasamy Rajeswari who lived in the property neighbouring the army camp in Adappankulam was fatally electrocuted while gathering vegetables close to the fence.

A protest was held outside the army camp on the day of Ms Rajeswari's funeral.

Photograph: Tamil Guardian

As the United Nations Human Rights Council discusses a resolution to take forward the recommendations of the damming UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities, the chief minister of the Northern Provincial Council and former supreme court justice of Sri Lanka CV Wigneswaran called on the council to work for a resolution that fully adopted the recommendations of the High Commissioner for Human rights and allowed a victim centred transnational approach to the accountability and reconciliation  process.

In a guidance note addressed to drafters of the upcoming consensus resolution on Sri Lanka and to member states of the UN Human Rights Council, Mr Wigneswaran spoke on 5 themes that would need to be sufficiently addressed in any resolution adopted by the council to see a lasting peace, accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

Extracts reproduced below:

Scope and Breadth of violations

As such, this Council strongly believes that Sri Lanka’s breach of the international obligations through the committing of international wrongful acts warrants the establishment of a mechanism, which draws the involvement of international judges and processes of high international standards to tackle ‘international crimes.'

The diverse nature of affected parties & offending individuals

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier with Tamil youths in Kilinochchi, at the opening of a German-funded training institute (Photo: Photothek.net)

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed the need for international involvement in Sri Lanka’s process for accountability, during his visit to Colombo.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Sri Lanka’s Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera, Mr Steinmeier said Germany was ready to share its experiences in the matter of reconciliation and justice, if it was desired by Sri Lanka.

“Unfortunately a global model [for justice and reconciliation] which fits all circumstances does not exist. Dealing with the past is necessary, reconciliation difficult and in many cases quite painful,” the foreign minister said.

“Elements that belong to it include, truth finding, justice, reparations and of course, guarantee of non-recurrence.”

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has rejected a call from the UN and other countries to involve the international community in the proposed accountability mechanism to address mass atrocities during the armed conflict, reports AFP.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Wickremesinghe said talks were under way to establish a credible domestic mechanism to investigate abuses.

A memorial was opened in remembrance of the children killed when their school was bombed by Sri Lanka’s air force in 1995.

Around 71 Tamil civilians were killed in bombing raids in the Nagarkovil area 20 years ago today, with 26 children killed at the site of the new memorial, which was opened in their former school, Nagarkovil Central School.

Members of the United States Congress called for the formation of a hybrid special court with international judges, prosecutors and lawyers to try war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka, in a letter written to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday.

The letter, signed by 11 members of Congress, called for the US to “retain a strong leadership role in promoting accountability, reconciliation and a political settlement” in Sri Lanka and support recommendations from the OISL report.

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected claims that he had agreed to investigate mass atrocities committed on the island and claimed his government was never at risk of facing sanctions, as he denounced the OISL report today.

In a statement released online, Mr Rajapaksa stated that Sri Lanka was never at risk of facing economic sanctions over the refusal to account for the final stages of the armed conflict, which saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed.

“Such measures are very rarely implemented because the country imposing sanctions ends up making a permanent enemy of the people of the country at the receiving end,” said Mr Rajapaksa. “Unilateral sanctions against Sri Lanka was never on the cards during my tenure.”  

Instead the former president said that “during the war, Sri Lanka and the USA had a mutually helpful exchange of information on security matters” and that “throughout my tenure, the main foreign investors in the Sri Lankan long term sovereign bond market and the securities exchange were from America and Europe”. “It is only after I  was voted out of office that these investors started withdrawing their money from Sri Lanka,” he claimed.

Stating that a hybrid court “is not feasible”, he went on to say “if there are allegations of wrongdoing against any member of the armed forces, I strongly believe that those should be tried under the existing Sri Lankan law, under our present courts system and by our judges and our Attorney-General’s department”.

His comments echo those made by current Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena last week, who reiterated "our stand is to have a domestic inquiry”.