Human Rights Watch urged Sri Lanka not to back-track on the commitments made by the government at the UN Human Rights Council regarding accountability and justice. 

Calling for the consensus UNHRC resolution to be adopted "promptly and transparently", HRW in is 2017 World Report released on Thursday said "the president and other senior officials have downplayed the government’s commitment to international involvement in key transitional justice mechanisms, and need to make justice a top priority."

In a statement, HRW noted: 

Sri Lanka would issue a temporary resident visa to foreigners who would be investing over US $300,000 in the country, the finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

The decision comes following a proposal in the 2016 Budget which said that visas would be granted to foreign investers who were bringing a significant amount of foreign exchange. 
 

Relatives of the disappeared held a protest in Vavuniya today expressing frustration with Minister Sathiyalingam and the TNA leadership.

The protestors voiced their disappointment at the lack of progress in having their missing loved ones accounted for.

They held banners criticising the TNA, in particular the leader R Sampanthan, and P. Sathiyalingam, the NPC representative for Vavuniya.

Any potential improvement in Sri Lanka’s credit profile will depend on how closely the government complies with conditions laid out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Fitch Ratings.

Noting that Sri Lanka was one of five countries that Fitch took negative rating action against in the two years leading up to IMF loads – the others being Iraq, Kenya, Suriname and Tunisia – the ratings agency added that Sri Lanka “ran down foreign-exchange reserves at unsustainable rates trying to resist currency depreciation in a global environment of US dollar strength”.

The European Commission has proposed the granting of trade concessions to Sri Lanka under the GSP+ scheme, in exchange for the government’s “commitment” on human rights and labour conditions.

The restoration of GSP+, which was stripped during the previous Sri Lankan government’s rule, would mean the government benefits from the full removal of duties on 66% of tariff lines, including in industries such as textiles and fisheries. The move has been proposed alongside “rigorous monitoring” by the European Commission.

Sri Lanka's foreign affairs minister, Mangala Samaraweera met with the UK's Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson in London this week. 

Mr Samaraweera is currently on an official visit to the UK in an effort to foster greater relations between the two countries. 

His visit comes as Sri Lanka's unity government faces criticism over its failure to acheive the vision and commitments it set out when it was elected to power two years ago. 

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the Sri Lankan government to "promptly implement" recommendations on transitional justice made by the Consultation Task Force. 

"Key among the task force’s recommendations is the creation of a war crimes court comprised of both international and national judges and other officials, with no time limit on its jurisdiction," HRW noted in a statement. 

The North must be declared drought affected and farmers and agricultural workers be given compensation to prevent starvation, the Northern Provincial Council has urged.

In the NPC’s 82^nd sitting, members called for emergency action to be taken to prevent starvation and also to provide clean water to the people of the North.

Extreme drought in the region has caused widespread failure of rice crop cultivation, the council stated.

USAID has implemented a project to provide clean water to communities that are impacted by disasters and chronic kidney disease in southern Sri Lanka and in the North-East.

The $1 million program builds on the previous USAID projects that have provided access to drinking water in communities that are especially prone to droughts and floods, as well as communities and hospitals that are impacted by chronic kidney disease.

Sri Lanka’s president attended a ceremony that marked the Uva - Wellassa rebellion today, an uprising by Kandyan chiefs against British rule.

The ceremony was held after Maithripala Sirisena annulled an 1818 British gazette notification that branded the Sinhala chiefs who led the uprising as traitors.

During the ceremony, plaques engraved with the names of the chiefs were presented to the heads of museums and to the chief lay custodian of the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth in Kandy,