The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called on the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that Sri Lanka is given “a deadline for delivery” to implement commitments laid out in a resolution which mandates a hybrid accountability mechanism. 

Sri Lanka is one of the worst countries in the world for female participation in politics, according to data released by the United Nations and Inter-Parliamentary Union this week.

Data compiled by the organisations, which presents global rankings for women in the executive and parliamentary government, showed Sri Lanka ranking lower than countries such as Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Congo, amongst others.

Overall Sri Lanka ranked 183rd out of 191.

“More women in politics leads to more inclusive decisions and can change people’s image of what a leader looks like,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Local government officials in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are trying to exploit property issues to pressure struggling Tamils into obtaining death certificates for their forcibly disappeared family members, former Northern Provincial Council member and minister Ananthy Sasitharan has said.

A UK chief magistrate has ordered a retrial of a Sri Lankan brigadier after an initial conviction was quashed on procedural grounds in London earlier today, amidst claims of Sri Lankan officials photographing witnesses involved in the case.

A draft United Nations resolution on Sri Lanka has been tabled at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling on the Office of the High Commissioner to “continue to assess progress” in implementing previous resolutions that called for a hybrid accountability mechanism for another two years.

The current draft resolution, calls for a written update on Sri Lanka in 2020 and a “a comprehensive report, to be followed by a discussion on the implementation” in 2021.

The home of a well-known Tamil journalist from Mullaitivu was broken into and burgled on Tuesday, with the journalist’s work equipment including a laptop and two cameras among the items stolen.

Journalist Kumanan, who reports regularly on issues of militarisation and Sinhalisation in Mullaitivu, as well as on the campaigns of families of the disappeared, said he believed the break-in was a deliberate attempt to silence his work.

The body of a Tamil man reported missing from Batticaloa was found with his hands tied in a canal on Monday.

Kanapathipillai Thirunavukkarasu, aged 62, was reported missing on Sunday and his body was found the following day in a paddy field canal, with his hands tied behind his back.

Vellaveli police said they had made two arrests in connection with his death.

The Sri Lankan government must deliver on its promise of an internationalised justice process said Freedom from Torture (FFT) Chief Executive Sonya Sceats, in a statement released last week.

Responding to a UK Supreme Court judgement earlier this month that overturned the rejected asylum claim of a Tamil torture victim, Sceats said it was “a wake-up call for President Sirisena and others who continue to deny Sri Lanka’s responsibility for war crimes including torture”.

The Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) has reiterated calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or for an ad hoc international tribunal to be set up, in order to obtain justice for violations of international law, in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council this week.