The United Nations Human Rights Office’s latest 2025 report on Sri Lanka has once again cast the island nation’s human rights record into the global spotlight. Documenting persistent abuses, including custodial deaths, arbitrary arrests, and harassment of civil society actors, the report underscores systemic failures in accountability nearly two decades after the end of the country’s armed conflict. The findings come amid unmet reform pledges by Sri Lanka’s government, highlighting an urgent need for international engagement and domestic reforms to end impunity and advance transitional justice.
Continued Human Rights Abuses Despite Political Promises
Since the 2009 end of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, promises from the political leadership have sought to address past violations and establish accountability. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, elected in 2024, pledged early in his term to repeal the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), amend the Online Safety Act, and empower an independent prosecutor to investigate abuses. However, “President Dissanayake’s election campaign pledges to deliver justice have resulted in few real changes,” as pointed out by Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. Indeed, the 2025 UN report reveals that these reforms remain unimplemented, contributing to ongoing human rights concerns.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, remarks on “the unwillingness or inability of the State to prosecute and punish alleged perpetrators” of serious abuses, underscoring a troubling culture of impunity. Successive governments’ failure to investigate or provide comprehensive accounts of grave incidents—such as the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings—further erodes public trust in justice mechanisms.
Grave Findings: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture, and Mass Graves
The report highlights continued arbitrary arrests and custodial deaths often linked with torture or ill-treatment. Arrests during drug raids, often under the draconian PTA, reflect a broader pattern of rights violations targeting marginalized communities, minorities, and political opponents. According to Volker Türk, the PTA enables prolonged administrative detention with limited judicial oversight, facilitating abuses including torture and death in custody.
Compounding these concerns is a spate of recent discoveries of mass graves. Over 100 skeletal remains, including those of children and infants, were uncovered at a northern Sri Lankan site in July 2025—a grim testament to the unresolved cases of enforced disappearances dating back to the civil war era and the violent Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising in 1987-1989. The UN calls on the government to “seek international support to ensure sufficient financial, human, and technical resources” for conducting exhumations in line with international standards.
Estimates place the number of enforced disappearances between 60,000 and 100,000 cases, with many families still awaiting answers. The International Commission of Jurists highlights Sri Lanka’s “globally high number of unresolved enforced disappearance cases,” pointing to a dire need for credible investigations and justice.
Civil Society Under Pressure: Harassment and Surveillance
The UN report documents harassment, intimidation, and surveillance targeting human rights defenders, families of the disappeared, and civil society actors. These actions undermine efforts to seek accountability or raise awareness about past and ongoing abuses. According to Human Rights Watch, the Sri Lanka Accountability Project—a UN initiative designed to document serious crimes for future prosecutions—needs continued support precisely because “the government fails in its obligation to respect and protect the rights of all Sri Lankans.”
The Sri Lankan government’s restrictive measures, including the controversial Online Safety Act, have further curtailed freedoms of expression and assembly. The law, while ostensibly aimed at preventing online harassment and abuse, provides broad discretionary powers to limit online speech, often suppressing dissent. Major global tech companies like Google and Meta have criticized the law as a “draconian system to stifle dissent” capable of undermining Sri Lanka’s digital economy. President Dissanayake has promised amendments, but progress remains slow.
Transitional Justice: The Long Road Ahead
The legacy of Sri Lanka’s civil war and subsequent violent episodes such as the JVP uprising remains deeply entrenched in the national psyche and political landscape. The UN report emphasizes the importance of transitional justice, urging comprehensive efforts to investigate enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Despite setting up institutions like the Office on Missing Persons in 2017, progress has been minimal. International observers criticize appointments of officials allegedly involved in human rights violations, casting doubt on the commitment to genuine justice. The proposed Commission for Truth, Unity, and Reconciliation has been widely rejected by victims’ groups as inadequate and failing to meet international obligations.
The human rights office warns against the prevailing climate of impunity, noting that ongoing abuses are symptomatic of the state’s failure to reckon with its past fully. As Volker Türk declares, Sri Lanka now has a “historic opportunity to break decades of impunity and deliver justice for victims,” but this window is rapidly closing without meaningful and timely reforms.
International Reactions and Crucial UN Engagement
International actors continue to press Sri Lanka for accountability. Human Rights Watch urges the UN Human Rights Council to renew the Sri Lanka Accountability Project and maintain rigorous scrutiny, highlighting that
“continuing engagement by the Human Rights Council and renewal of the accountability project is crucial.”
The Council’s 60th session, scheduled for September to October 2025, is expected to debate the situation extensively, with the UN High Commissioner presenting his report.
The Sri Lanka Core Group within the Council, composed of Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and the United Kingdom, has been vocal in calling for sustained international pressure to ensure justice and respect for human rights.
Broader Socio-Political and Economic Context
The protracted human rights issues unfold within a wider context of socio-economic hardship and governance challenges. Post-2019 economic crises, compounded by austerity measures linked to IMF bailout conditions, have disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, undermining their access to education, health services, and social protections. The ongoing restrictions on civil society and media reporting further stifle public discourse on these issues.
Meanwhile, tensions around religious freedom persist, with government authorities appropriating Hindu and Muslim religious sites, at times converting them into Buddhist temples. These actions deepen ethnic and religious divides, fueling further grievances.
The 2025 United Nations report on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation lays bare the urgent and complex challenges facing the country. Decades after violent conflict, the scars remain palpable in enforced disappearances, institutional impunity, and persistent abuses against civilians and activists. The government’s failure to implement promised reforms and genuinely engage in transitional justice imperils prospects for national reconciliation and undermines international trust.
In this critical moment, sustained global attention, diplomatic pressure, and effective domestic reforms are essential. Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads — either to confront its painful past and foster justice and healing or continue down a path marked by unresolved grievances and entrenched inequality.
