Sri Lanka Should Consider Signing the Rome Statute – Human Rights Commission
23-Jul-2025.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has emphasized the need for the government to provide sufficient financial, expert, and technological resources to preserve evidence—such as human remains found in mass graves—and to conduct efficient investigations.
The Commission recommends that Sri Lanka pay serious attention to signing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classifies enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity.
The 29th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances is scheduled from September 22 to October 3. During this session, the group will review whether Sri Lanka is fulfilling its obligations under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Alongside the UN report on Sri Lanka, HRCSL has released a 25-page report detailing the implementation of Sri Lanka’s obligations. It states that enforced disappearance is a severe human rights violation that has occurred across all regions of the country and affected people from all communities.
The report acknowledges ongoing efforts by families of the disappeared, activists, and civil society to seek truth and accountability, even amid economic hardships, threats, and challenges. It praises the continued efforts of affected women in raising awareness and demanding justice.
The Commission’s report elaborates on its past and recent activities, including initiating investigations, monitoring detention centers, working with other state bodies, promoting policy reforms, and protecting the rights of victims and activists.
It includes findings from investigations in 2003, 2006, and 2012 and details about the 2023 case of Kapila Kumara de Silva, allegedly disappeared from Gonapinuwala. It also highlights threats from state officials faced by relatives of the disappeared and activists.
According to past commissions, over 27,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been recorded, and the Office on Missing Persons has received more than 21,000 complaints.
The 2009 Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission report noted that over 1,000 individuals who surrendered to the military in May 2009 remain missing.
The HRCSL report includes 11 recommendations for the Sri Lankan government to fully implement the International Convention, such as:
- Conduct full investigations under the Enforced Disappearances Act
- Establish a permanent body with broad powers to investigate and prosecute
- Classify widespread and systematic disappearances as crimes under domestic law
- Provide reparations per international standards
- Safeguard evidence from mass graves
- Educate police and military on the Act and Convention
- Consider signing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
