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. 

The UN human rights chief called on Sri Lanka to ensure “consistent, comprehensive and accelerated” implementation of a resolution on accountability in an address to the Human Rights Council today, where she urged Colombo to hold perpetrators of crimes to account.

Thanking the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for her report, India said it looked forward to "the implementation of its other important commitments made to the international community, including the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka."

Member states urged the UN Human Rights Council to ensure justice is delivered on in Sri Lanka through a time-bound strategy during today's interactive dialogue on the report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with Canada reiterating the call for international judges. 

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) called on members of the international community to exercise universal jurisdiction “to hold perpetrators of atrocity crimes in Sri Lanka accountable,” in a statement delivered at the UN Human Rights Council today.

The US State Department released its 2018 report on the human rights this month, raising ongoing concerns in Sri Lanka of impunity, arbitrary detention, unlawful killings, torture, sexual abuse and media intimidation. 

Families of the disappeared across the Eastern Province gathered in Batticaloa today to demand justice and for Sri Lanka to the be referred to the International Criminal Court. 

Sri Lanka’s president said that his government would be marking May 2019 as the “10th anniversary of dawn [of] peace”, at a time when Tamils around the world will be commemorating the tens of thousands massacred by Sri Lankan security forces.

Amnesty International has released a report detailing Sri Lanka’s failure to meet its commitments and has called on the international community to reaffirm resolution 30/1, as well as continuing to monitor Sri Lanka’s progression.

A total of seven police officers, including two subinspectors, two police sergeants, two constables and a police driver have been arrested over the abduction and murder of two businessmen from Rathgama in January. A forest ranger from Walasmulla forest reserve has also been arrested in connection with the murders. 

Sri Lanka's opposition leader and former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Saturday the country should not co-sponsor a UN Human Rights Council resolution currently being tabled in Geneva. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met with Sri Lanka’s Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) last week, to discuss power devolution and abolishing the executive presidency, in a move that marks formal dialogue between the two parties.

The Hindu reported TNA parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran as stating “all parties are agreeable on going ahead with devolution” and called on the JVP to continue to support a new constitution for the island.

After a series of delays, China’s Exim Bank has approved a $1 billion loan to Sri Lanka as part of Colombo’s Central Expressway project.

However, delays in approving the loan have reportedly cost Sri Lanka an extra Rs 12 billion, which factors in the rising cost of building materials and currency fluctuations. 

The World Bank has approved $70 million worth of credit to support “local economic activities and livelihoods” of those living in the North-East and Uva Provinces in Sri Lanka. 

The project is to support local economic activity, sanitation and infrastructure within these poorer provinces, through establishment and renovations of “roads, drains, water supply, minor irrigation, IT connectivity, and rural electrification”.