In a joint statement, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a human rights organisation established by the mothers of children kidnapped and “illegally adopted” during the Argentine dictatorship, urged the UN Human Rights Council to pass the draft resolution on Sri Lanka.

^{Photograph: US and Chinese delegations in Alaska this month.}

Earlier this month the United States and China publicly clashed, capturing global attention as the first face-to-face talks between the two superpowers since the Biden administration came into power, descended into a chaotic opening day. 

The British High Court has handed their ruling in support of former Sri Lankan defence attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, who has appealed his conviction of breaching section 4A of the Public Order Act by making a cut-throat gesture at peace Tamil demonstrators outside Sri Lanka’s embassy.

In their ruling, Sir Julian Flaux C and Mrs Justice McGowan recognised the criminal behaviour of the Sri Lankan Brigadier, however, upheld his claim of diplomatic immunity.

In a bi-partisan statement addressed to the US Secretary of State, 9 members of the US Congress have called upon their government to “actively seek support” for the passage of the current UN resolution as well as to ensure that “accountability and institutional reform in Sri Lanka” remains “a priority on the international stage”.

In advance of a vote at the UN Human Rights Council on a draft resolution concerning Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena decried the allegations levied against the country as being politically biased and called upon India for support to “defeat the false accusations”.

In his statement, Gunawardena claimed that it was “not the responsibility of an internationally recognized Human Rights Council to accuse or take a vote on the internal affairs of our country”.

                                                          People gather around the tumbled bus trying to rescue passengers.

A bus crashed into a moving train bound from Anuradhapura to Talaimannar on Tuesday causing an accident leaving a 14-year old school boy dead and 25 people injured. 

Writing in The Tribune this week, Tamil Guardian Staff Writer Bharati Selvakumar commented on Britain’s historic and current support of Sri Lanka and “whether Britain will live up to its responsibilities and hold Sri Lanka accountable – or if the government will continue to whitewash this genocidal history”.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has scheduled to vote on a resolution on accountability for mass atrocities in Sri Lanka on Monday 22 March.

The vote, which will be keenly watched by those on the island and abroad, will be on a resolution which calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to "collect... consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials.

Following widespread criticism of the draft UN resolution, which is seen to fall short on accountability, the British parliament held a debate on the country's commitments to Sri Lanka on issues of “reconciliation, accountability and human rights”.