By Jehan Perera –

Jehan Perera

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, is expected to visit Sri Lanka later this month. This will be an important visit as he will be seeking to assess the progress that the new government has made in implementing resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Commission which his office facilitates. The last such visit was by former High Commissioner Al Hussein in February 2016, during the period of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government. At that time the relations between the Sri Lankan government and the UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s office were mutually supportive as the Sri Lankan government had co-sponsored UNHRC Resolution 30/1 which specifically included international participation in the transitional justice process.

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s visit on this occasion comes at a critical time, as the NPP government faces ongoing international pressure to address long-standing human rights concerns. Particularly controversial has been the Sri Lanka Accountability Project of the High Commissioner’s office (OHCHR), which has established an external mechanism for gathering evidence related to alleged human rights violations. The three successive governments that have had to face this issue have all strongly registered their opposition to it. As of 5 July 2024, the OHCHR repository established under this initiative contained 96,215 individual items that can be used for accountability processes gathered from over 470 sources, including international and multilateral organizations.

In the present international context, ethnic cleansing and war crimes are taking place in the public gaze of the world in a manner that is anathema to the international human rights community. There are governments in many countries and international organisations that continue to believe in the ideal of a Rules-based International Order. They would wish to show the world that they continue to stand by those values which have contributed to make the world a more just and less brutal place. Sri Lanka depends on international trade and development aid. These benefits are often conditional on demonstrating adherence to international human rights norms. By addressing the UNHRC recommendations the government will not only improve its international relations but also foster internal healing and stability.

Ethnic Partnership

Meeting the challenge of High Commissioner Türk’s visit will, however, not be an easy one for the NPP government. So far the government appears to have done little in its first six months in office to address the outstanding issues in the presently operating UNHRC resolution. The most recent UNHRC resolution concerning Sri Lanka is Resolution 51/1, adopted on October 6, 2022, which focuses on “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka”. This resolution builds upon previous ones which brought up issues of missing persons, long term prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), continued militarization of the north and east after the end of the war and the military occupation of civilian lands. While there has been some progress in the return of land there has been no significant movement on many of the other matters.

The government also finds itself in the position of having to explain the non-implementation of its own manifesto in relation to the ethnic conflict and national reconciliation. The NPP manifesto which was published before the presidential election has several commendable pledges which, if implemented without delay, would contribute in great measure to the national reconciliation process. These include “Abolition of all oppressive laws including the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and ensuring civil rights of people in all parts of the country” and “Releasing of all political prisoners and ensuring their free socialization”. The failure to move forward these pledges makes the government vulnerable to the criticism, which is now being made by Tamil political parties, that it is no different to previous governments which also failed to deliver on their promises.

The most important of the NPP pledges is to be found in Section 4.9 titled “A Sri Lankan Nation- The Universal Citizen”, where the manifesto puts forward as its first principle the concept of “Political partnership of all ethnicities.” In practice this is not working out. Recently, the Tamil media reported that the Palmyrah Development Board which is based in Jaffna had experienced a serious rupture with three independent board members from Jaffna resigning in protest, two of them Prof. K Pakeerathan and Prof. P Iyngaran being professors from Jaffna University. They felt that their views were disregarded and no translation facilities were provided for them when they met the minister in Colombo. Working in partnership with those from different parts of the country, with different ethnicity and language, requires sensitivity and engaging in dialogue and deciding together if it is to be a reality.

Need Partnership

Another example of lack of consultation and absence of partnership was the recently cancelled gazette notification regarding the vesting of vacant land in the north in the state unless the owners claimed it in three months. It is likely that this land takeover law contributed to the diminution of NPP votes at the local government election. Gazette No. 2430, issued on 28 March 2025, gave landowners in the north three months to assert ownership claims before their lands were declared state property. This was said to be under a colonial law enacted by the British to dispossess people lacking formal title. This gave rise to concerns that its enforcement now signaled a broader effort to legitimise taking land from the people in Tamil-majority areas, including Mullivaikkal where the last battles of the war were fought, threatening further displacement, undermining resettlement, and blocking memorialisation.

What is noteworthy however, is that despite these actions the government still for all obtained more votes in the north and east than any previous government. This outcome suggests that Tamil and Muslim voters still hope the NPP can deliver system change and accountability. It is a mandate that the government must not squander. The electorate, across ethnic lines, has demonstrated a shared yearning for transparency, fairness, and economic opportunity which the government must now convert into action. The visible prosecution of high-level corruption cases and the independence demonstrated by the judiciary are encouraging signs that Sri Lanka’s institutions can be restored. However, the credibility gained through anti-corruption efforts must now be extended into the equally critical areas of reconciliation and minority rights.

Facing the challenge of the UN Human Rights system also requires the support of the representatives of the ethnic (and religious) minorities. If they are opposed to the government or take up positions contrary to it, Sri Lanka will continue to remain under international pressure. The next renewal or extension of the UNHRC resolution is expected to occur in September or October 2025. The trend line so far is that the resolutions get harder and harder. In Canada, a second genocide memorial is being planned, and this one will be in Canada’s largest city of Toronto. The Sri Lankan government cannot overcome these challenges by itself, but it can fare better if it has the ethnic minorities on its side in a “political partnership of all ethnicities” as promised in the NPP manifesto. The formation of local government administrations will be a litmus test.