• Commitments should be formalised via policy/laws with clear mandates/timelines 
• 10.1% unfamiliar with HRCSL/OMP/OR, investment needed in public outreach/engagement

Sri Lanka should maintain reconciliation as a political priority and strengthen key reconciliation institutions, a recent survey on reconciliation in Sri Lanka has recommended, noting that in order to build on this momentum, reconciliation related commitments should be formalised through policy and legislation with clear mandates and timelines for mechanisms such as the Commission for Truth, Unity, and Reconciliation.

The Sri Lanka Barometer National Public Opinion Survey on Reconciliation for this year added that meaningful progress will however depend on the visibility and credibility of institutions tasked with implementation. The survey – which focused on Sri Lankans’ opinions on where the country stands in terms of reconciliation and related issues – further noted in its report that despite their perceived importance, 10.1% of the respondents were unfamiliar with bodies like the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), the Office on Missing Persons (OMP), and the Office for Reparations (OR), which it said underscores the need to invest in public outreach and engagement.

The survey had taken into account the opinions of 3,876 Sri Lankans above the age of 18.

With regard to how citizens understand and experience reconciliation amid last year’s (2024) and 2025’s political transition, the report said that while public demand for reconciliation has remained consistently high since 2020, perceived progress continues to lag, highlighting a persistent reconciliation deficit. It added that this deficit is most pronounced among Sri Lankan Tamils and Up-Country Tamils. As per the report, almost half of the respondents understand the meaning of reconciliation as unity and positive relations between groups, marking an increasing convergence towards a relationship-based understanding of reconciliation. When considering who should bear the greatest responsibility for reconciliation, the public opinion is split between political actors (50.7% citing the President, the Government, or politicians) and all people (40.5% citing collective societal responsibility). The report has found that the perceptions of political barriers to reconciliation have decreased significantly in 2025, particularly regarding a lack of political will (from 25.7% in 2020 to 10.4% in 2025) and divisive nationalist politics (from 37.5% in 2020 to 6% in 2025).

When it comes to how citizens perceive the country’s governance structures and civic spaces necessary for reconciliation, political trust has increased significantly across most Provinces, reaching the highest levels recorded since 2020. The report pointed out that this trend however is not consistent across the entire country, with political trust declining in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Perceptions of corruption in the public sector are moderately high, while the Northern and Eastern Provinces report slightly higher levels of perceived corruption. More than a third of the people (38.7%) believe that the current Government will be effective or very effective in addressing corruption, compared to only 12.5% who believe that previous Governments were effective or very effective in doing so. Perceptions of personal freedom have risen sharply in 2025.

The report further discussed how Sri Lankans perceive their own role in driving change for reconciliation, regarding which it was noted that although internal political efficacy has increased, gender disparities persist, with women reporting lower levels than men. The national mean score for political agency is moderately low (standing at 4.3 in 2025), with Up-Country Tamils reporting the lowest sense of agency (mean score of 3.8). Noting that perceptions of State responsiveness have declined in most Provinces in 2025, the report added that the Northern Province recorded the sharpest drop since 2023 (from a mean score of 8.5 to 7.5), while the Eastern Province shows the steepest overall decline since 2020 (from a mean score of 8.5 to 6.9). Motivation to engage politically, which peaked during the 2022 crisis, has dipped in 2023, but recovered somewhat by 2025. Younger citizens aged 18 to 30 show more motivation to engage (39.8%), while people aged 61 and older report the most disengagement (63.2%).