The British Government says the March 2014 deadline issued for Sri Lanka to show progress on addressing alleged human rights issues still stands.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told the House of Commons that if the Sri Lankan Government does not show progress by the time the Human Rights Council meets in March next year Britain will favour an international inquiry that is independent, credible and thorough.

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michelle Sison says that the US hopes that its support will enable more Sri Lankans to be able to contribute to their society. The US Ambassador visited the Faculty of Arts at the University of Colombo on Tuesday where she provided funds for a centre for the disabled at the University.

The gesture was made in view of World Disability Day which is commemorated today.

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Michele Sison expressed these views;

The United States has warned that the patience of the international community with Sri Lanka, if real progress is not seen, particularly on issues of accountability, will start to wear thin,

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal, said that the international community had underscored the need for Sri Lanka to make progress on issues of reconciliation, on issues of accountability, and on issues of human rights, ongoing concerns about the political space and human rights in the co

The visiting UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Dr Chaloka Beyani, has been impressed with Sri Lanka's overall progress made in the resettlement of IDPs in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Resettlement Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa yesterday said the UN Special Rapporteur was also positive and glad about the government's post-war reconstruction and development process.

Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal stopped short of endorsing a deadline set last month by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he would call for a U.N.-backed inquiry into allegations of war crimes unless there was progress on postwar reconciliation by March.

A U.N. report has suggested Sri Lanka's military may have killed up to 40,000 civilians in the final months of the war in 2009 as it crushed ethnic Tamil rebels, who are also accused of atrocities.

The biggest problem faced by the Northern Province residents was the presence of the army, which was pivotal in creating other problems, Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran had told the visiting UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Chaloka Beyani.
 
The UN Special Envoy, who visited Jaffna today had meetings with the Northern Province Governor Major General (Rtd) G. A. Chandrasiri at his residence, Jaffna Government Agent Sundaram Arumainayagam at his office and the Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran at

The army has questioned the motives behind a French NGO releasing a report on the murder of 17 humanitarian workers in 2006 before sharing the information with the government.

Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that the contents of the report, reportedly issued by the French NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF), contains allegations of a very serious nature implicating the security forces over the death of the 17 aid workers.

DMK would demand a resolution for an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka and raise the issue of retrieving Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka in the winter session of Parliament.

Briefing reporters after an all-party meeting convened ahead of the winter session of Parliament here today, DMK Parliamentary leader T R Baalu said his party would also seek a discussion on the outcome of CHOGM summit held recently in Sri Lanka.

Those who lecture Sri Lanka on what is best for the country and the people, claim that accountability and justice are necessary and non-negotiable preconditions for reconciliation. Never mind their moral authority to pontificate there is truth in this position. ‘Forgive-and-forget’ is easy to say but hard to obtain. It is the same for the aggrieved, whether grief arrived in May 2009 or somewhere in the mid-80s for the simple reason that some sorrows can only be laid to rest with any degree of finality with the death of

Sri Lanka ranked 91st place on Transparency International’s corruption perception index for 2013, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka got a score of 37. Denmark and New Zealand are together the least corrupt countries out of the 177 surveyed by the anti-corruption watchdog.

On a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is clean, India ranked 94th on the index and got a score of 36.