UN rights bloc asks Sri Lanka to act on reforms, disappearances

A UK-led group at the UN Human Rights Council urged Sri Lanka to turn reform pledges into concrete action. The intervention kept focus on disappearances, accountability and civil liberties as global scrutiny persists.

In Short

• Core Group welcomed anti-corruption steps but sought broader accountability reforms
• Thousands of disappearance cases and mass grave findings remain unresolved
• Civil society, journalists and victims’ groups still face intimidation in regions

A group of countries led by the UK has asked Sri Lanka to turn its stated commitment to human rights and institutional reform into "concrete action", while pressing for progress on unresolved cases of enforced disappearances. The call came during discussions on Sri Lanka at the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented a report on the country’s human rights situation.

The Sri Lanka Core Group, made up of Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the UK, welcomed what it called the High Commissioner’s balanced assessment. It acknowledged the government’s anti-corruption measures and steps to reopen cases linked to past high-profile rights abuses, political killings and enforced disappearances, but said much more needed to be done to build confidence in its accountability and reconciliation efforts.

Delivering the joint statement, the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders said, "It is crucial that the government’s stated commitment to reform is translated into concrete progress." The Core Group said progress in several emblematic cases had still not been matched by a comprehensive, victim-centred accountability process to address past violations.

It added, "Mass grave excavations are a stark reminder that thousands of cases of enforced disappearances remain unresolved. And reports of intimidation, harassment, and restrictions affecting civil society, journalists and victims’ groups, including in the North and East, still raise concerns." The group urged Sri Lanka to advance democratic governance through transparent and inclusive consultations that address the concerns of all affected communities. It also called for legal and institutional reforms, resolution of land-related disputes, respect for human rights in detention facilities and stronger independent institutions.

In its response, Sri Lanka rejected calls for externally imposed accountability mechanisms and defended a nationally led judicial and reconciliation process to deal with allegations of past rights violations. The UNHRC also renewed its call for the repeal of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act, a law that rights groups have long criticised over alleged arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention. Land held by the military in the Northern and Eastern provinces also remains a longstanding concern in the post-war reconciliation process.

The latest scrutiny comes as Sri Lanka pursues reforms while dealing with major economic and social challenges, including the impact of severe weather events and global energy shocks. The discussions could pave the way for further action by the Human Rights Council when the current session ends next month, though it is not yet clear if the report and the Core Group’s statement will lead to another resolution. The Council has adopted nine resolutions on human rights, accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka since 2012, the latest in October 2024, and the country’s rights record has remained under international scrutiny since the end of the civil war in 2009.

According to the UN human rights body, hundreds of people were tortured, forcibly disappeared, abducted and killed by government security forces and non-state armed groups during the long civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The latest UN debate underlined both the steps acknowledged by member states and the unresolved issues that continue to shape international scrutiny of Sri Lanka.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends