Seventeen years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, the latest report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, updates the current human rights situation in the country.
The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office in September 2024, promising justice for past rights violations. Yet, as the high commissioner’s September 3 report concludes, beyond progress in a few important cases, “there has been no recognition or accountability for crimes under international law, gross human rights violations, and serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties” during the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in 2009.
Human Rights Watch raised similar concerns in its September 1 report, which documented limited progress in some emblematic cases, but no movement in cases dealing with enforced disappearances, the killing of aid workers, or the targeting of journalists. The government has failed to follow through on its promise to establish an independent public prosecutor’s office, or undertake legal or structural reforms needed for accountability. The Dissanayake government has also not accepted the Sri Lanka Accountability Project, established by the UN Human Rights Council to collect evidence of serious rights abuses.
The Sri Lankan government still uses the repressive Prevention of Terrorism Act to harass and arrest human rights defenders, journalists, and families of victims. They face surveillance and questioning by state intelligence agencies, particularly in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The high commissioner’s report calls on the government to impose a moratorium on using the law pending its repeal, and to release people long detained under it.
The Sri Lankan government needs to urgently institute long-pending legal and structural reforms, repeal repressive laws, undertake comprehensive security sector reform, and take steps toward genuine reconciliation, or it risks further entrenching impunity and the trust deficit among victims.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should continue to monitor the Sri Lankan government’s progress on accountability for international crimes. UN member states at the Human Rights Council and other countries should press the Dissanayake government to follow through on its commitments to ensure truth and justice. Two decades on, the families of victims are still waiting.
Facts Only
* The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office in September 2024.
* The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on September 3 regarding the human rights situation.
* The report noted no recognition or accountability for crimes under international law, gross human rights violations, and serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (which ended in 2009).
* Human Rights Watch raised concerns in a September 1 report.
* Human Rights Watch documented limited progress in some emblematic cases but no movement regarding enforced disappearances, the killing of aid workers, or the targeting of journalists.
* The government failed to establish an independent public prosecutor’s office or undertake necessary legal or structural reforms for accountability.
* The Dissanayake government has not accepted the Sri Lanka Accountability Project established by the UN Human Rights Council.
* The Sri Lankan government continues to use the Prevention of Terrorism Act to harass and arrest human rights defenders, journalists, and families of victims.
* Human rights defenders, journalists, and families of victims face surveillance and questioning by state intelligence agencies, particularly in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
* The High Commissioner called on the government to impose a moratorium on using the Prevention of Terrorism Act pending its repeal and to release detainees.
Executive Summary
Seventeen years after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, a recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights updates the human rights situation in the country. The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed office in September 2024 with promises regarding past rights violations. However, the high commissioner’s September 3 report noted that beyond progress in a few specific cases, there has been no recognition or accountability for crimes under international law, gross human rights violations, or serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties during the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which concluded in 2009.
Human Rights Watch similarly raised concerns, documenting limited progress in some emblematic cases but noting no movement regarding enforced disappearances, the killing of aid workers, or the targeting of journalists. The government has not fulfilled promises to establish an independent public prosecutor’s office or implement necessary legal and structural reforms for accountability. Furthermore, the Dissanayake administration has not accepted the Sri Lanka Accountability Project established by the UN Human Rights Council.
The situation is further complicated by the continued use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the Sri Lankan government to harass human rights defenders, journalists, and victims' families, including surveillance by state intelligence agencies in northern and eastern regions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the government to halt the use of this law pending its repeal and release those detained under it. Achieving genuine reconciliation requires the government to enact urgent legal and structural reforms, repeal repressive laws, implement security sector reform, and pursue accountability, as the current trajectory risks entrenching impunity.
Full Take
The narrative structure reflects a systemic disconnect between political promise and institutional action. The persistence of repressive legislation, such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act, alongside continued state surveillance demonstrates that accountability mechanisms are being actively subverted rather than merely being unimplemented. The focus on specific types of violations—enforced disappearances, targeting aid workers, and journalist persecution—as areas lacking progress suggests a deliberate compartmentalization of justice, where broader acknowledgement of international crimes is avoided in favor of localized security management. This pattern implies that impunity is not simply a failure of will, but an embedded operational reality maintained through legal and security structures. The call for structural reform and reconciliation suggests that the current state of affairs feeds into a larger dynamic where trust deficits among victims are actively reinforced by ongoing state control. The failure to enact reforms, despite stated promises, indicates that the primary obstacle is not a lack of evidence or political will, but the institutional inertia that protects existing power structures from dismantling themselves. The core implication is whether transitional governance can override deeply entrenched security paradigms to establish genuine judicial and social reconciliation.
Bridge Questions: What specific institutional barriers prevent the implementation of suggested legal and structural reforms? How do international monitoring mechanisms effectively influence domestic security apparatuses in regions under heightened state control? What are the tangible political risks for actors who seek to enforce moratoriums or pursue accountability within this framework?
Sentinel — Human
This text reads like a synthesis of established reports and political developments, structured to advocate for accountability, consistent with journalistic or NGO reporting.