Students at the University of Jaffna joined families of the disappeared last Saturday to demand Sri Lanka be referred to the International Criminal Court for committing a genocide against the Tamil people. 

Students condemned the UN Human Rights Council's decision to grant an extension to the government to implement the co-sponsored resolution. 

The protest began in front of the university and ended at the municipality council sports grounds.

Two men have been arrested on Sunday over the robbery which took place at the home of a prominent Mullaitivu journalist, Kumanan. 

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliament M A Sumanthiran warned that unless Sri Lanka agrees to include international judges in a accountability mechanism, his party would "take steps to move Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court".

Speaking to Sri Lanka’s parliament earlier today, Sumanthiran said "the state of Sri Lanka cannot be an independent arbiter".

"If the government of Sri Lanka does not adhere to this commitment of including independent foreign judges in the judicial mechanism, then we the Tamil people will be left with no alternative but to move towards and entirely international judicial mechanism," he said.

The leader of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) called for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the setting up of an ad hoc international criminal tribunal, in order to to obtain justice for Tamil victims, in an address to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week.

Gajen Ponnambalam said that the OISL report had found “a domestic accountability mechanism would not suffice due to the lack of capacity owing to the   distortion and corruption of the security sector and judicial system in Sri Lanka”.

Several international NGOs have criticised Sri Lanka’s unwillingness to hold war criminals to account through an accountability mechanism with international involvement, as a resolution was passed giving the government two more years to do so this week.

Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department yesterday said the navy hierarchy, including Navy Commander Jayantha Perera and Intelligence Division Director Ananda Guruge knew about the abductions that occurred in Colombo during 2008 - 2009. 

Tamils in Australia expressed disappointment over the UN Human Rights Council's decision to grant Sri Lanka a two year extension to implement resolution 30/1, and called for alternate avenues to be explored, including referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a new resolution on Sri Lanka, granting it a further two years to implement a previous resolution from 2015 that mandates a hybrid accountability mechanism.

Resolution L.1 was adopted at the council in Geneva earlier today without a vote, after Sri Lanka announced it would be co-sponsoring it.

A mother of two children was found stabbed to death in Vavuniya yesterday. 

Two police officers were arrested in Vavuniya on March 19, following the earlier arrest of five men two days prior for treasure hunting near the Poompukar Crematorium in Vavuniya.