Symposium on Prosecuting Asia-Pacific Crimes: Victim Centrality and Accountability in Sri Lanka

[Bhavani Fonseka is an Attorney-at-Law and Researcher based in Sri Lanka]

May 2026 marked 17 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka, a period in which accountability for the violations that occurred during the war have been elusive. Despite the passage of time, the demand for accountability persists with victims both in Sri Lanka and outside agitating and mobilizing in search of their disappeared loved ones and for justice for violations that occurred during and in the immediate aftermath of the war. Many victims have faced threats and numerous indignities in their search for answers and for accountability, braving numerous setbacks. Such mobilization has kept the issue alive, reminding of the thousands who are unaccounted and why truth and justice is critical if Sri Lanka is to have genuine reconciliation. This short piece captures thoughts shared at the workshop on 19^th May 2026, outlining the decades of victim agitation and mobilization that resulted in the appointment of several domestic investigations and inquiries but with limited impact in terms of accountability within Sri Lanka. The failures at the domestic setting contributed to calls for international action, with several country specific resolutions adopted at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and other steps taken that are briefly discussed below. As this article highlights, much of this work and steps taken to address is premised on victim perseverance and a reminder of the importance of victim centrality in the pursuit of truth and justice.

Emblematic cases and multiple challenges

Sri Lanka has a long list of emblematic cases that have faced numerous setbacks with justice. This includes evidence tampering, threats and intimidation of victims and witnesses, delays with investigations, filing indictments, and prosecutions, with many cases dragging on for decades in the different stages of the criminal justice system. Cases such as the investigations in the assassination of Lasantha Wickramatunge from 2009 are examples of the multiple challenges with justice in Sri Lanka including the tampering of evidence to delays with investigations. In the abduction for ransom case, also known as the Navy Eleven case, reports indicate that political actors and state officials were colluding to interfere with investigations and undermine accountability.

Additionally, victim and witness protection has been a real challenge in Sri Lanka with numerous instances where either victims or witnesses or both have been threatened and intimidated which have hindered investigations. The cases of the killing of the Five Tamil Students in Trincomalee, 2006, and killing of aid workers for Action Against Hunger (ACF) in the same year, highlight the threats and violence faced by victim families, eyewitnesses, and those who report on incidents. Family members were intimidated in both cases, with several having to leave the country and seek asylum. Further, in addition to the victims who were threatened, a local journalist who reported on the murder of the five students and exposed evidence of the killings was subsequently shot dead by unknown gunmen. Twenty years after the killings, neither case has seen justice.

In the case of the disappearance of political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda shortly before the presidential election in 2010, after more than a decade of multiple setbacks, the case is finally before court and it is to be seen how the trial will proceed. Meanwhile, Sandya Eknaligoda, the wife of the disappeared victim, continues to face threats in her quest for justice. The ongoing excavations in several mass grave sites in Sri Lanka is yet another reminder of Sri Lanka’s brutal past and the large numbers who were disappeared and killed. The Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna District where recent work has excavated over 470 skeletal remains, relates to a case that goes back to the 1990s. This raises questions to the role of the state in enforced disappearances and killings, delays and other setbacks that have contributed to entrenching impunity in the country. Similar concerns are raised with multiple other mass grave sites located in different parts of the country.

The long list of emblematic cases is indicative of the low expectations in obtaining justice in Sri Lanka and the trust deficit with the criminal justice system. The rarest of cases that proceed to trial and see a conviction face subsequent setbacks, such as the use of the presidential pardon post-conviction. In the Mirusuvil massacre case which included the massacre of civilians including children in 2000, a rare case which saw a conviction in the High Court of Sri Lanka with the Supreme Court subsequently upholding the conviction. In 2020, then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa granted a presidential pardon and with it undermining the criminal justice system. The pardon is presently challenged in the Supreme Court.

These, and other cases, demonstrate the varied methods of undermining of the criminal justice system including delays, practical challenges, procedural issues and political interference. These setbacks are against a backdrop of harassment and other methods to silence victims, witnesses, activists and officials who genuinely try to pursue justice in Sri Lanka. The numerous hurdles with justice in Sri Lanka are coupled with public pronouncements from those in power that deflect and deny the occurrence of serious human rights violations and the need for accountability.  In such a context where there is little trust with credible domestic efforts towards truth and justice, victims have persisted with exploring international options.

Looking to the international

The continuous delays, denials and setbacks with justice in Sri Lanka has contributed to many victims looking internationally, demanding for accountability at the United Nations and the use of universal jurisdiction. Such action not only exposes the failures with justice in Sri Lanka, but a reminder that, in the face of mounting failures and impunity, reckoning may only be available elsewhere.

In such a context of multiple failures with justice, Sri Lanka has had several country specific resolutions at the UNHRC. Such moves were vociferously countered by the Government of Sri Lanka, who accused this international action of being a threat to its sovereignty. The international measures were also countered by domestic investigations and inquiries such as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the Paranagama Commission and other state initiatives, none of which have yet to show genuine action taken towards addressing impunity in Sri Lanka. After several resolutions urging for credible investigations and action, the UNHRC in 2021 adopted Resolution 46/1 that established the evidence gathering mechanism titled the Sri Lanka Accountability Project (SLAP) mandated to gather and store evidence for future accountability. The mandate was first extended by the UNHRC in 2022 followed by Resolution 60/1 that was adopted in 2025, to be reviewed in September 2026 and September 2027.

In addition to the UNHRC, attention has also been directed toward the use of sanctions and accountability. These have resulted in several cases where former heads of state and military officials faced travel sanctions, resulting in them and their families being unable to travel to countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. These and other steps at the international level have occurred when no genuine steps towards addressing accountability have been taken in Sri Lanka.

Hope for the future?

In 2022 Sri Lanka faced an unprecedented economic crisis that saw a massive citizen mobilization titled the Aragalaya demanding the resignation of the then Gotabaya Rajapaksa government and systemic change. This was a fall from grace for the former Defence Secretary who was portrayed as the architect of the military victory in 2009, but is alleged to have committed massive human rights violations, with several cases presently before courts in Sri Lanka and being sanctioned in Canada. It was also a time where questions emerged about the impunity enjoyed by the political leadership, with protestors demanding a range of structural and legal reforms, including political accountability.

In the heels of such agitation, the President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National People’s Power (NPP) was elected to office in 2024 with a massive mandate for change. The NPP election manifesto encompassed ambitious promises on a range of issues including governance and economic reforms and addressing emblematic cases on human rights and corruption and legal and structural measures to address impunity. The promise to establish an independent public prosecutor is one such promise and requires structural reforms for the establishment of a specialized body that can take forward complex cases. Yet, with delays in moving forward with this promise and other necessary legal and structural reforms, questions remain about whether there is any possibility of addressing impunity in Sri Lanka.

Nearly two years into government, many of the promises made by the NPP are yet to be fulfilled. Many of the emblematic cases are unresolved with investigations delayed and little public information as to steps taken to hold perpetrators to account. The rarest cases where some movement has been seen with investigations and prosecutions are closely watched, with many wondering whether the victims will obtain justice in their lifetime. This is at a time when many parents of disappeared victims are ailing and passing away.

Sri Lanka is a case which demonstrates the multiple setbacks faced by victims in their pursuit for justice and also their perseverance in the face of challenges. Further, it is a case that shows how some victims were able to mobilize at both the domestic and international levels to persist with keeping their demand for justice alive. Despite the multiple obstacles, some breakthroughs have been seen at the international level and with it reminding of the importance of victim centrality in the pursuit of accountability and that the long arc of justice cannot be ignored.