Efforts to seek justice have repeatedly faltered. Domestic institutions like the Office on Missing Persons, created in 2017 to resolve disappearance cases, have made limited progress.
Families of those who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s decades of conflict continue to face relentless surveillance, intimidation, and legal persecution under the guise of counterterrorism, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned last week.
Nearly a year after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed office on promises to repeal oppressive legislation and foster national reconciliation, activists say the reality on the ground remains grim.
Dissanayake’s 2024 campaign included pledges to overhaul Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), amend the sweeping Online Safety Act, and establish an independent prosecutor to bolster accountability. But critics point to continued arbitrary detentions and institutionalised opacity, especially in Tamil-majority regions.
Under the PTA, 38 individuals were arrested in 2024; by April 2025, that number had risen to 49 – a troubling indicator that the law remains a favoured tool of suppression.
Families Under Fire
Human Rights Watch highlights disturbing patterns of state interference targeting families of the disappeared – many of whom mobilise to learn the fates of loved ones lost during the civil war from 1983 to 2009 or the earlier JVP insurrection.
In numerous cases, relatives who file complaints, attend commemorations, or cooperate with international bodies are met with intimidation. In Tamil-majority northern and eastern provinces, activists say they face police surveillance, questioning, and even pressure aimed at their children.
Dissanayake’s campaign promises have failed to avert such tactics. According to Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s Deputy Asia Director, “the families of the disappeared continue to face threats, including for engaging with the UN, while prospects for justice in Sri Lanka are as remote as ever.”
Citing a woman whose son was forcibly disappeared while in army custody in 2008, HRW said that police officers from the Terrorism Investigation Division questioned her in June at her home for three hours.
The officers allegedly asked her about her visits to Geneva, where she has engaged with the Sri Lanka Accountability Project and the Human Rights Council.
“Many mothers [of the disappeared] are mentally affected by the [police] inquiries, monitoring, and intimidation,” the unnamed mother alleged while claiming that the surveillance, including by the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), has increased.
“The monitoring by the CID is tighter now,” she said. “Sometimes they approach our children to get information about us. That is a type of threat.”
Mass Graves and the Quest for Truth
Recently uncovered mass graves in Chemmani near Jaffna have become grim symbols of Sri Lanka’s unresolved past. Excavations earlier this year found more than 140 skeletons – including children – and personal items like schoolbags and baby bottles, highlighting the brutal reality of wartime disappearances.
In June, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk visited the site and called for “robust investigations by independent experts with forensic expertise”.
Despite such international attention, domestic investigations remain slow, with many mass grave sites still unexamined – fuelling concern over lack of transparency or accountability.
HRW and UN bodies argue that sustained global engagement is critical. The UN Sri Lanka Accountability Project, established in 2021, collects and preserves evidence of human rights violations and war crimes. HRW emphasizes that the UN Human Rights Council must renew its mandate for the project, alongside ongoing monitoring and reporting during its upcoming 60th session beginning September 8, 2025.
“The Sri Lankan government should immediately and publicly direct security agencies to end the surveillance and harassment of victims’ families and activists, and announce a complete moratorium on the use of the PTA,” HRW demands.
A Legacy of Impunity
Efforts to seek justice have repeatedly faltered. Domestic institutions like the Office on Missing Persons (OMP), created in 2017 to resolve disappearance cases, have made limited progress – many families describe being pressured into accepting compensation that amounts to a relinquishment of truth and accountability.
Critics point to a broader trend of “white van abductions” and state-led disappearances stretching back decades, with high numbers of unresolved cases and minimal prosecutions.
As Sri Lanka hurtles toward another UN Human Rights Council session, the fate of the disappeared and their families remains emblematic of the island’s unaddressed wartime wounds. Despite the passage of nearly two decades since the civil war’s end, the recurrence of repression under the guise of national security underscores a persistent failure in delivering justice or reconciliation.
Human rights advocates warn that without decisive domestic reforms and sustained international oversight, Sri Lanka risks leaving an entire generation of victims without the truth, and without hope.
