- OHCHR report to be presented in Geneva on Monday
- SL’s Permanent Representative to the UN to deliver Govt. response
- OHCHR flags custodial violence, continued PTA use
The latest United Nations (UN) report on Sri Lanka has warned that the National People’s Power (NPP)-led Government’s commitments to truth, justice, and systemic reform risk stalling, citing severe external shocks, escalating custodial violence, and a failure to dismantle repressive State machinery.
The report, released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), will be presented at the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday (7).
Foreign Ministry Spokesman and Director General Thushara Rodrigo told The Sunday Morning that while no delegation would travel from Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva would deliver the Government’s response. The Permanent Mission in Geneva will respond to the queries raised in line with the Sri Lankan Government’s position.
According to the report, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s administration, which assumed office in late 2024, has had its reform agenda severely complicated by successive shocks. Cyclone Ditwah struck on 28 November 2025, affecting 2.2 million people across all 25 districts.
By mid-April this year, the Government reported 687 deaths, 147 people missing, and more than 115,000 homes damaged or destroyed, with total recovery costs estimated at $ 3.4 billion. Spillover effects from the armed conflict in West Asia from late February further drove up fuel, fertiliser, and energy prices.
By May, Sri Lanka’s poverty rate stood at 22.1%, with deprivation concentrated in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Electricity tariffs rose twice in early 2026 under International Monetary Fund (IMF)-negotiated cost-reflective pricing, prompting a Rs. 15 billion Government subsidy for low-income households.
The 2026 Budget allocated 82.59% of total Government revenue to debt servicing, compared to a combined 6.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for health, education, and social protection.
The UN raised grave concern over violent incidents inside detention facilities, particularly clashes at the Negombo Prison in July that killed at least 32 people – 22 detainees and 10 officials – which it attributed to prison overcrowding and overcriminalisation of minor offences.
The report also detailed custodial deaths at the Welikada Prison, Karadiyanaru Police Station, and Jaffna Prison between 3 and 24 May this year. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka documented 18 custodial deaths and 602 torture cases in 2025, alongside 1,125 arbitrary arrests, of which 530 saw no Police action.
The report highlighted the widening gap between the NPP’s pledge to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and its continued use, with 46 cases recorded in 2025 and 12 more by March this year.
The draft Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA), published in December 2025 as a replacement, was found by the OHCHR to reproduce and expand the PTA’s most problematic features, including overbroad criminalisation and risks of arbitrary detention.
Civil society organisations and journalists, particularly Tamils and women human rights defenders in the north and east, continued to face surveillance and harassment, the report stated, while a draft NGO (Registration and Supervision) Bill shared in July has drawn alarm for granting the Ministry of Defence clearance powers over independent organisations.
On accountability, the report noted developments including the 31 July conviction and death sentence handed to former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Secretary of Defence Hemasiri Fernando over the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, and a travel ban imposed on former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in June. The UN, however, voiced concern that the proceedings may not meet international fair trial standards.
Separately, exhumations at the Chemmani-Siththuppaththi mass grave site in Jaffna have yielded the remains of more than 477 individuals as of late July.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Sri Lanka to impose an immediate moratorium on the PTA, repeal the Online Safety Act and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, and undertake security sector reform, including vetting of officers implicated in violations.
He also called on member states to consider targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel restrictions, against individuals credibly alleged to be responsible for serious rights violations.