Seventeen Years On, UN Reports Zero Accountability for Sri Lankan War Atrocities
Seventeen years after the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s civil war, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has reported that the government has failed to deliver meaningful accountability or structural reform for past atrocities, despite pledges made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s administration.
The findings, detailed in a September 3 report by the high commissioner, acknowledge progress in a few important cases. However, Türk concluded that beyond these select instances, “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 conflict against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in 2009.
Parallel findings released on September 1 by Human Rights Watch echoed these assessments, noting 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.
Unfulfilled Pledges and Institutional Paralysis
According to the reports, the Dissanayake government—which assumed office in September 2024—has not followed through on foundational commitments.
Promises to establish an independent public prosecutor’s office and undertake necessary legal and structural reforms remain unfulfilled. Furthermore, the administration has declined to accept the Sri Lanka Accountability Project, a mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council specifically tasked with gathering evidence of serious rights abuses.
Human Rights Watch and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights both emphasize that victims and their families continue to face systemic barriers to justice.
Continued Harassment Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
State authorities continue to utilize the repressive Prevention of Terrorism Act to harass, monitor, and detain human rights defenders, journalists, and family members of victims.
These operations are particularly concentrated in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka, where individuals report ongoing surveillance and questioning by state intelligence agencies.
In response, the high commissioner’s report explicitly urges the Sri Lankan government to enforce a moratorium on the use of the law pending its repeal, alongside the prompt release of individuals held under its provisions for extended periods.
Mounting International Pressure and the Threat of Impunity
Without urgent implementation of long-pending legal reforms, comprehensive security sector reform, and genuine steps toward national reconciliation, international monitors warn that the government risks further cementing a culture of impunity and widening the existing trust deficit among victims.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights intends to maintain oversight of the government’s progress regarding international crimes. Meanwhile, UN member states at the Human Rights Council and other countries should press Colombo into honoring its unfulfilled commitments to truth and justice as affected families enter their third decade of waiting.
