{"id":243009,"date":"2025-08-16T01:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=243009"},"modified":"2025-08-16T23:58:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T18:28:47","slug":"unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/","title":{"rendered":"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Nations<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Human Rights Office\u2019s\u00a0report<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span>\u00a0details entrenched and systemic rights violations\u2014including arbitrary detention, torture, and deaths in custody\u2014under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake<\/a><\/span>, Human Rights Watch said today. The new report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker T\u00fcrk, also describes the misuse of draconian laws to silence families and activists campaigning for justice and says that continued international engagement through the UN Human Rights Council is \u201cessential.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Human Rights Council should renew existing UN mandates on\u00a0Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span>\u00a0at its 60th session, which begins September 8, 2025. Amid near-complete impunity for past atrocities and ongoing violations against members of minority communities in Sri Lanka, the council over the years has adopted a series of resolutions stemming from the widespread abuses linked to the 1983-2009 civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Since 2021,\u00a0the council has\u00a0mandated<\/a><\/span>\u00a0regular UN reporting on human rights in Sri Lanka and established the UN Sri Lanka Accountability Project to collect, analyze, and preserve information and evidence of serious crimes to support future prosecutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Dissanayake\u2019s election campaign pledges to deliver justice have resulted in few real changes,\u201d said\u00a0Meenakshi Ganguly<\/a><\/span>, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe UN Human Rights Council should take note of the human rights chief\u2019s finding of enduring security agency abuses and take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his 2024 election campaign, Dissanayake pledged to repeal the draconian\u00a0Prevention of Terrorism Act<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(PTA), which enables torture and prolonged arbitrary detention; amend\u00a0the Online Safety Act<\/a><\/span>, which threatens freedom of expression; and establish an independent public prosecutor to promote accountability. The government failed to implement these pledges, and instead the high commissioner found that \u201cthe structural conditions that led to past violations persist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The continued use of the counterterrorism law is particularly concerning. The high commissioner reported increased use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, from 38 cases in all of 2024 to 49 during the first five months of 2025.\u00a0<\/strong>The law is\u00a0typically used<\/a><\/span>\u00a0against members of the Tamil and Muslim communities. The high commissioner also describes \u201croutine use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment\u201d and multiple cases of deaths in police custody, as well as \u201ca lack of effective investigation into these cases.\u201d The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka told Human Rights Watch in July that it reviewed 736 torture complaints last year.<\/p>\n

The high commissioner found that \u201cthe surveillance apparatus, especially in the north and east, has remained largely intact, with minimal oversight or direction from the central government,\u201d\u00a0leading to continued patterns<\/a><\/span>\u00a0of \u201cintimidation and harassment of families of the disappeared, community leaders, civil society actors, especially those working on accountability for enforced disappearances.\u201d Among those targeted are families of victims who have engaged with the Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

The government continues to suppress the activities of nongovernmental organizations and human rights activists. Many groups face limitations on their funding, while officers from the Terrorism Investigation Division often summon activists for questioning or visit their homes or offices.<\/p>\n

The report emphasized the importance of justice for victims of the civil war as well as the thousands of victims of enforced disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial killing during the 1987-1989 uprising in southern Sri Lanka by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People\u2019s Liberation Front or JVP), the formerly militant leftist party that is now the largest constituent of the Dissanayake government. The high commissioner reported that about 20 mass graves have been discovered in Sri Lanka, of which five are currently being investigated. The government should seek international support to ensure sufficient financial, human, and technical resources to ensure preservation and conduct exhumations in line with international standards, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0numerous emblematic cases<\/a><\/span>\u00a0illustrate the \u201cunwillingness or inability of the State to prosecute and punish alleged perpetrators,\u201d according to the high commissioner. Regarding the\u00a02019 Easter Sunday bombings<\/a><\/span>\u00a0of churches and hotels that killed over 250 people, the high commissioner noted that successive governments \u201chave failed to provide a comprehensive account of the circumstances that enabled those attacks, particularly regarding the role of the security establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The high commissioner noted that since Dissanayake took office last September, the authorities have made some progress in pursuing corruption cases but, like preceding governments, have failed to acknowledge the government\u2019s responsibility for abuses, particularly the role of the military and other security forces in serious international crimes. In particular, survivors of conflict-related sexual violence experience \u201cfear of retaliation, social stigma, and lack of trust in justice mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ongoing abuses highlight the importance of continued Human Rights Council support for the UN Sri Lanka Accountability Project, as well as the UN\u2019s ongoing monitoring and reporting, Human Rights Watch said. The council should call on the government to end the surveillance and harassment of victims\u2019 families and human rights activists and impose a moratorium on the Prevention of Terrorism Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a year in office, President Dissanayake has not significantly improved Sri Lanka\u2019s terrible human rights record,\u201d Ganguly said. \u201cContinuing engagement by the Human Rights Council and renewal of the accountability project is crucial so long as the government fails in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of all Sri Lankans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2656,"featured_media":233096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nUNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-15T19:42:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-16T18:28:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"577\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Statements\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Statements\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/\",\"name\":\"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-15T19:42:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-16T18:28:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9fddeb2ac23d0977190d353ad64c0a73\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":577},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9fddeb2ac23d0977190d353ad64c0a73\",\"name\":\"Press Statements\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00b02fa970c3203836e551c370966a6581ae9f03d5452e32d192376b17a766f6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00b02fa970c3203836e551c370966a6581ae9f03d5452e32d192376b17a766f6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Press Statements\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/presss\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2025-08-15T19:42:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-16T18:28:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":577,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Statements","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Statements","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/","name":"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-15T19:42:11+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-16T18:28:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9fddeb2ac23d0977190d353ad64c0a73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg","width":900,"height":577},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unhrc-report-on-sri-lanka-details-entrenched-systemic-rights-violation-unhrc-should-adopt-the-resolution-hrw\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UNHRC Report On Sri Lanka Details Entrenched & Systemic Rights Violation: UNHRC Should Adopt The Resolution: HRW"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9fddeb2ac23d0977190d353ad64c0a73","name":"Press Statements","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00b02fa970c3203836e551c370966a6581ae9f03d5452e32d192376b17a766f6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00b02fa970c3203836e551c370966a6581ae9f03d5452e32d192376b17a766f6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Press Statements"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/presss\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/UN-Human-Rights-High-Commissioner-Volker-Turk.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243009"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243014,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243009\/revisions\/243014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}