Over the decades, CPA has highlighted the critical need for reforms addressing truth and justice in Sri Lanka, which require renewed attention against the backdrop of the ongoing work around mass graves and other developments linked to Sri Lanka’s past cycles of violence. Whilst CPA acknowledges the work done by state officials pertaining to forensics and other work, the complexities of ascertaining truth and pursuing justice require expertise and resources that are urgently needed. In this regard, CPA reiterates the need for capacity building and legal and structural reforms that can facilitate processes that are independent, impartial, and victim-centred. Based on interviews with a range of stakeholders, including those based in the North and East, CPA highlights the following:

• Strengthen Forensic Expertise: There is a need to strengthen the overall forensic investigation capacity and expertise of the state, including the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) and others.
• Provide Resources and Initiate Reforms towards the Establishment of an Independent DNA Facility: The work in the past with the Chemmani Mass Grave and other sites, and ongoing work with multiple sites, highlights the need for an independent facility that is able to store and process DNA samples.
• The Need for Independent Investigations and Prosecutions: Recent events demonstrate the urgent need for the establishment of an office to independently investigate and prosecute serious human rights and economic crimes. The work around mass graves and Sri Lanka’s case load of enforced disappearances reinforce the need for such an entity.
• Ensuring Procedure in Excavation: Standard operating procedure should be introduced in the excavation of mass graves to cover excavations, exhumations and investigations.
• Obtaining International Assistance: The complex nature of excavations and investigations highlights the need for international observers and assistance that can support and strengthen the work.
• Psychosocial Support for Victims: The discovery and exhumation of mass graves have deep psychological effects on victims and affected communities. The State must enhance local capacity to provide psychosocial support and related issues.
• Victim-Centred Approach: The Government must ensure all processes and reforms are victim-centred, including the need for transparency and regular information sharing to address the trust deficit towards domestic initiatives.
• Resource Allocation for Investigations, Prosecutions and Related Matters: The Government must take all steps to provide resources for ongoing excavations, forensic and other related work and investigations and ensure the required allocations are made with the forthcoming appropriations bill.

There is a considerable body of work done by the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), amongst others, on issues around enforced disappearances, the excavation of mass graves, and related issues. All efforts must be made to ensure there is no political interference with such entities and that they are provided the required resources to function independently.

We welcome an opportunity to meet and discuss these critical matters further and offer our continued support in implementing the necessary reforms to build a system of justice that reflects the aspirations of all citizens.

Click Here to Download the Document

Click Here to Download the CPA Annual Report 2023

I write on behalf of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in response to news reports that Your Ministry has appointed an expert committee as an initial step towards establishing an independent prosecutor’s office. The CPA has consistently advocated for creation of an independent prosecutors office as a means to ensure greater accountability and confidence in Sri Lanka’s justice system. The multiple and often conflicting roles of the Attorney-General’s Office have been addressed previously by CPA in ‘Rethinking the Attorney General’s Department in Sri Lanka: Ideas for Reform’ and, more recently, in ‘Calls for a Public Prosecutor’s Office – The Urgent Need for Reforms’. Thus, an Independent Public Prosecutor’s Office is crucial for ensuring fair, effective, and impartial prosecution of cases, especially high-profile and cases which relate to politically exposed persons. As part of the broader reform in Sri Lanka advocated for by CPA, we kindly urge you to consider the following issues and principles in establishing an independent public prosecutor’s office:

1. Impartiality and Insulation from Influence: The office must be non-partisan and thoroughly insulated from political bias, ensuring the law is applied equally to all. This requires robust recruitment practices and legislated tenure to protect against external influences and non-interference by the political actors regarding decisions of appointments and promotions within the office.

2. Independence in Structure and Function: The prosecution department should stand structurally independent from other branches of government to reaffirm the separation of powers. This promotes accountability, checks and balances, and transparency within the justice system, insulating prosecutorial decisions from political pressure or fear of retribution. Persons working for the office should not have any interface with the executive and political actors in the discharge of their functions. It is important not only to create an institution which is actually independent, but it has to also be seen as being independent in order to inspire public confidence.

3. Trust Building with the Public: As the primary means of pursuing punishment for criminal behaviour, the office must instill public trust in the justice system. It must primarily serve public interests and proactively increase the accessibility and transparency of the justice system, including by developing a prosecutorial policy that is accessible to the public.

4. Sufficient Resourcing and Training: As addressed by previous CPA reports, the office requires independent financial resources, comprehensive recruitment processes, and the logistical capacity to provide investigation services, alongside legal and administrative capabilities.

5. Accountability: The office must be accountable to Parliament, particularly concerning resource utilisation. Financial oversight should be carried out by a body (of Parliament) that include a variety of political actors representing different political parties (split equally between government and opposition). Such oversight should be without any derogation of the right and ability to independent exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The office should be subject to judicial review.

CPA emphasises that the Ministry’s recent initiative to appoint an expert committee towards establishing an independent prosecutor’s office is only the first step in a process that needs to be transparent and inclusive, involving a process of obtaining representations from victims, lawyers, academics, civil society, and other relevant stakeholders. Such an inclusive process will foster broader discussion, engage all parties, and build public trust, demonstrating a genuine commitment to transparent and accountable reforms that strengthen the rule of law and democracy in Sri Lanka. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. We believe that these reforms are fundamental to upholding justice and restoring public confidence in Sri Lanka’s legal system.

Sincerely,

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Executive Director

Click Here to Download the Document

June 2025

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights H.E. Volker Turk is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka this month—the first visit by a High Commissioner since the 2024 election of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP) government. The visit takes place at a key moment in Sri Lanka with the country grappling with the effects of its ongoing governance and economic crises, cycles of past violence, and the lasting effects of a nearly three-decade conflict. The 2024 change of government promised reform and reignited hope that a new political culture would emerge.

Yet, seven months later, the implementation of confidence-building measures and key governance and legal reforms have been delayed. A significant section of society also faces severe socio-economic challenges. Amidst such a context, human rights abuses persist. The recent use of the Prevention of Terror Act (PTA) has violated the due process of suspects. Long-standing issues, such as land appropriation, continue to deny communities of their right to access, own and use their lands, freedom of movement, and means of survival. Reports of torture and custodial death have also occurred under the Dissanayake government. These and other issues expose the prevalence of human rights violations that threaten to reinforce historical patterns of violence and trigger future conflict. They are also critical indicators of the need for a prevention agenda and engagement in promoting human rights and strengthening the rule of law in Sri Lanka.

The visit takes place at this critical juncture when the government can be supported in their plans of implementing its own promises. In light of the impending visit, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) urges the High Commissioner and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to inform their meetings and messages to the government, state entities, and others with the following recommendations:

1. Have a genuine and open dialogue with victims, survivors, and civil society in Sri Lanka, including visiting the war-affected areas in the North and East.
2. Highlight the need for concrete steps to address accountability in Sri Lanka. This includes the need for tangible and time-bound progress on emblematic cases, legal and structural reforms, including the establishment of the promised Public Prosecutor’s Office, and other necessary reforms to ensure an independent and credible judicial process in Sri Lanka.
3. Emphasize the need for an immediate moratorium on the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and its immediate repeal. Any future attempts at law reforms must adhere to international standards and be drafted after wide consultations.
4. Highlight the need for other urgent legal reforms, including the repeal of the Online Safety Act (OSA), reform to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), the Vagrancy Ordinance, provisions of the Penal Code, and other measures to ensure equality, non-discrimination, and the dignity of all citizens.
5. Raise concerns about ongoing efforts at land appropriation and occupation that have dispossessed many individuals and communities. Particular attention must be paid to acquisitions in the North and East, a call for transparent land appropriation reforms that contain due process safeguards and address the grievances of affected communities.
6. Visit sites of mass graves and raise the need for adherence to international standards of exhumation, recording, reporting, and identification.
7. Reaffirm the right to religious worship and religious freedom.
8. Raise the need for independent investigations into custodial torture and encounter killings, accountability for such violations, and urgent reforms in this regard.
9. Highlight the continued challenges faced in civic spaces, including administrative and security issues that impede the work of human rights defenders, civil society, community groups, media, and others.
10. Urge the Government of Sri Lanka to address persistent socio-economic challenges, including through the introduction of governance reforms that are just, fair, and equitable.
11. Emphasize the importance of undertaking constitutional reforms in a transparent and timely manner that facilitate the abolition of the executive presidency, address a political solution, and bring required checks and balances, among other key reforms. These reforms should include a full implementation of Sri Lanka’s existing constitution, especially concerning the limited devolution of power granted by the 13th amendment, pending constitutional reform.
12. Raise the need for a new Resolution on Sri Lanka with a two-year reporting period, that provides for continued monitoring and support for human rights, accountability, and reconciliation. CPA also recommends the renewal of the OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project (OSLAP) and its ability to visit Sri Lanka.

The human rights, accountability, and reconciliation issues underscored in these recommendations require urgent attention. CPA calls upon the High Commissioner and the OHCHR to use this visit to highlight these concerns and emphasize the need for immediate action, including a time-bound roadmap for implementation of reforms.

Centre for Policy Alternatives

Click Here to Download the Document