The Mayor of Toronto paid tribute in Mullaitivu to the thousands of Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan state in the final stages of the war in 2009.

China's minister of defence Chang Wanquan left the country on Sunday to embark on a visit of Sri Lanka and Nepal, Reuters reported. 

Details of his trips are unavailable. The deputy naval chief, Su Zhiqian is to be part of the offical delegation. 
 

Sri Lanka will carefully study the recommendations made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, made in her report which follows her visit to Sri Lanka late last year. 

"We believe the visit was timely as the Government and the people of Sri Lanka have embarked on a historic journey to achieve durable peace, reconciliation and development," the ambassador, Ravinatha Aryasinha said. 

Sri Lanka's foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera reportedly criticised a Sri Lankan Major General publishing a book which details the extensive war crimes of the army, calling it the "biggest betrayal to the war heroes". 

Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice, called for a clear "time frame and benchmarks" for Sri Lanka to implement its "commitments to accountability" in a press release issued this week.

Jegath Jayasuriya, a former Sri Lankan army commander and the government's current Ambassador to Brazil, is alleged to be complicit in the torture that took place at the Joseph Camp in Vavuniya between August 2007 and mid-July 2009, according to a report released by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITPJ).

The report, launched this week, describes the many incidents of torture at the Joseph Camp – formally known as Vanni Security Force Headquarters.  

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution this week, stating that Sri Lanka had “not taken any meaningful steps for a credible justice process and an accountability mechanism that it had accepted, promised and committed to”.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the island’s constitution does not allow foreign judges to participate in any accountability mechanisms, a key aspect of a 2015 resolution that Colombo co-sponsored.

A draft resolution calling on Sri Lanka to “implement fully” a previously co-sponsored UN resolution from 2015 has been tabled at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, granting the government an extended period of a further two years to do so if passed.

The Sri Lankan government once again reiterated its rejection to the participation of foreign judges in any accountability mechanism for human rights abuses on the island, dismissing a key aspect of a UN resolution.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Power and Energy, Ajith Perera, told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were staunchly against the involvement of international judges.

The Sri Lankan government must immediately address demilitarisation, disappeared persons, land return and political prisoners as the most pressing issues for Tamils and Muslims, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues told the Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

Countering a press statement released on Monday by the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa entitled 'Constitutional and legal reforms to destroy the nation', Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera argued that his government had managed to end the country's scrutiny on an international stage and bring "shift all action to a domestic front".