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Sri Lanka - News from Justice Info

What is it all about?

Our news on Sri Lanka, clear and analytic

Almost 13 years after the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, there is still no prosecution for serious crimes that probably constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. Until 2009, the country was torn apart by fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists, which left more than 100,000 people dead. Since then, the living conditions of the Tamil and Muslim populations, also victims of the war, have deteriorated. A year ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution providing for a new mandate and budget to gather evidence of war crimes. Full investigations into allegations of corruption and political crimes are widely attributed to the clan of Gotabaya Rajapaksa (former president of Sri Lanka) and his allies. The Sri Lankan state persists in repressive and arbitrary practices, deaf to the demands of civil society. Justice Info reports 100% independently on this sensitive issue through expert analysis and breaking down the facts.

Will Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the President of Sri Lanka, be able to put in place a genuine transitional justice process? Photo: Dissanayake during his election campaign in September 2024.
Can Sri Lanka now break with the past?
3 February 2025 by Julia Crawford
Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended nearly 16 years ago, with war crimes committed on all sides. Victims have seen no justice. A new President and parliament were elected last year, representing a break with traditional parties and [...]
During a demonstration, a sign displays this text message: Bachelet denounces continued inaction on Sri Lanka war crimes
26 March 2021 by Julia Crawford
On Tuesday March 23, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a new resolution on Sri Lanka, including a new mandate and budget to collect evidence of war crimes. This followed a damning report to the Council by the High Co [...]
Sri Lanka : a threat to reconciliation and accountability
7 November 2018 by Andrew Ianuzzi, Richard J Rogers and Heather Ryan
On October 26, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. For the Monitoring and Accountability Panel, this political come-back risks undermining the limited progress made in transitional just [...]
Sri Lanka charges man deported from family by Australia
18 July 2018 by AFP
A Sri Lankan deported by Australia even though his partner had refugee status there was charged upon his return with illegally leaving his home country. Thileepan Gnaneswaran, who was separated from his wife and 11-month-old daugh [...]
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1 March 2018 by AFP
Sri Lanka launches probe into war-era disappearances Sri Lanka has appointed commissioners to a special panel tasked with investigating war-era disappearances, three years after President Maithripala Sirisena was elected promising justice for victims of the island's bloody ethnic co [...]
15 January 2018 by AFP
Sri Lanka court dashes president's hope of longer term Sri Lanka's top court has rejected a controversial attempt to extend President Maithripala Sirisena's term in office by an extra year, further souring the ruling party's relations with its coalition partners. Sirisena had asked th [...]
15 November 2017 by Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo.Net
UN countries must press Sri Lanka on justice, say NGOs International jurists of the Sri Lanka Monitoring and Accountability Panel (MAP)  say Sri Lanka’s government has made no credible progress on its transitional justice commitments, and are urging the international community to get [...]
9 May 2017 by Gehan Gunatilleke
Can Memorialisation Generate Public Demand for Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war in the North and East of the country, along with an insurrection in the South, witnessed the death and disappearance of thousands. Despite these egregious events, the Sri Lankan state has failed [...]
3 March 2017 by Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo.net
Sri Lanka’s victims demand justice, while government plays for time Sri Lanka’s government this week asked the UN Human Rights Council for more time to fulfil its promises under a 2015 Resolution on justice for civil war victims. The international community welcomed the surprise election of Presid [...]
2 July 2016 by Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo
Sri Lanka Court Needs International Judges For Credibility, Say Experts In October, the new Sri Lankan government of President Maithripala Sirisena co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council Resolution calling for a wide range of transitional justice mechanisms after 26 years of armed conflict with the Ta [...]
10 February 2016 by Jared Ferrie, IRIN
Sri Lanka war crimes in the spotlight as UN rights chief visits YANGON, 9 February 2016 (IRIN) - Sri Lanka's president is unlikely to cave in any time soon to pressure for international participation in a war crimes tribunal, as the United Nations rights chief urged today. But he could turn th [...]
4 November 2015 by Kate Cronin-Furman
Will Sri Lanka’s New Government Provide Accountability for Civil War Atrocities? Six years after the end of Sri Lanka’s devastating civil war, a transitional justice process is finally beginning. The consensus adoption this month of a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability, cosponsored by Sri Lan [...]
23 September 2015 by Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo.Net
DEALING WITH THE PAST WILL TAKE TIME IN SRI LANKA, SAYS ANALYST Sri Lanka’s new unity government is promising accountability for war crimes, although it has stopped short of accepting an international inquiry. President Maithripala Sirisena, who replaced his hawkish predecessor Mahinda Rajapak [...]
17 August 2015 by Julia Crawford, JusticeInfo.net
SRI LANKA POLLS COULD BE “CRUCIAL” FOR RECONCILIATION Sri Lanka goes to the polls on Monday August 17 in parliamentary elections. According to a recent International Crisis Group Report, the outcome could be crucial for the fight against corruption and for reconciliation in a country [...]