Seventeen years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has raised concerns over the lack of accountability for alleged grave human rights violations and international crimes committed during the conflict.
In his latest report on Sri Lanka, released on September 3, Türk said that while there had been progress in a few significant cases, there had 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 (LTTE), which ended in 2009.
The report assesses the human rights situation under the Government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, which came to power in September 2024 pledging to pursue justice for past rights violations.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised similar concerns in a report released on September 1, noting limited progress in several high-profile cases but little or no movement in cases involving enforced disappearances, the killing of aid workers and attacks on journalists.
HRW also said the Government had yet to fulfil its pledge to establish an independent public prosecutor’s office or undertake the legal and structural reforms required to strengthen accountability. It further noted that the Government had not accepted the Sri Lanka Accountability Project established by the UN Human Rights Council to preserve evidence of serious human rights abuses.
The UN report also expressed concern over the continued use of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which has been used against human rights defenders, journalists and families of victims.
According to the report, victims’ families and activists, particularly in the Northern and Eastern provinces, continue to face surveillance and questioning by state intelligence agencies.
Türk has called on the Government to impose a moratorium on the use of the PTA pending its repeal and to release individuals who have been held under the law for prolonged periods.
The report urged the Government to urgently implement long-delayed legal and structural reforms, repeal repressive legislation, carry out comprehensive security-sector reforms and take concrete steps towards genuine reconciliation.
It warned that failure to address these issues could further entrench impunity and deepen the trust deficit among victims and their families, many of whom have continued to seek answers and justice years after the war ended.
