Amnesty International has called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an “international accountability mechanism to ensure the victims of decades-long conflict get the justice that is owed to them” after the Sri Lankan government's decision to withdraw its co-sponsorship on a UN resolution on accountability.

“Sri Lanka’s decision to go back on its commitments to the Human Rights Council requires a robust response by the Council, including steps towards the creation of an accountability mechanism to ensure the victims of the nearly three-decade long conflict get the justice that is owed to them,” said Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, South Asia Researcher at Amnesty International.

The leader of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) told the United Nations Human Rights Council that with Sri Lanka having withdrawn from co-sponsorship of a resolution on accountability, that it was time for the gobal body to call for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or call for the setting up of an ad hoc international tribunal.

Tamil families of the disappeared continued their protests in Mannar last week, with a rally calling on the United Nations to ensure justice was delivered and the fate of their loved ones is determined.

The rally, which took place last week, marched from the Mannar District Secretariat and ended near the Sathosa ground, where a mass grave was uncovered in 2018.

A group of international non-governmental organisations have called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish “an international accountability mechanism on Sri Lanka,” warning that there have been “indicators of a significant backsliding on human rights” on the island.

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa looks set to dissolve parliament and declare a snap a legislative election, according to reports appearing in the Colombo press on Sunday.

Rajapaksa has the constitutional power to dissolve the parliament from midnight on Sunday when the minimum term of four-and-a-half years has been reached, confirmed Sri Lanka’s Election Chief Mahinda Deshapriya.

A report conducted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) under the delegation of Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice and Police was released, revealing that Swiss authorities were aware of “irregularities in adoptions from Sri Lanka” between the 1970s and 1980s, during which over 700 children were adopted into the country.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called for purely international processes, including potentially referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as the only remaining options for securing justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. The organisation pointed out that Tamils have "consistently and rightly rejected any reconciliation process that ignores justice and accountability, and it is obvious that no justice or accountability process that is left to domestic Sri Lankan institutions alone can be credible."

Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, ICJ said:

Reconciliation and ending impunity in Sri Lanka still remain a top priority, a senior French diplomat has said, despite the country’s decision to withdraw from co-sponsoring UNHRC resolutions on accountability, reconciliation and human rights.