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UNHRC extends Sri Lanka accountability mandate despite Colombos rejection

2025-10-06

On October 6, the United Nations Human Rights Council UNHRC adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project OSLAP for another two years, keeping the country under international scrutiny until 2027. The resolution HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1, tabled by the Core Group on Sri Lankaincluding the UK and Canadawas adopted without a vote during the 60th session of the Council.

The Sri Lankan government strongly rejected the resolution, calling it an unprecedented and ad hoc expansion of the Councils mandate. Referring specifically to resolution 51/1 of 2022, which first created the external evidencegathering mechanism, Sri Lanka declared that it does not accept the legitimacy of international investigative processes, insisting instead on socalled genuine nationally owned mechanisms.

Despite citing new domestic initiativesincluding a proposed Truth Commission, public prosecutors office, and reforms to the Office on Missing PersonsTamil victims groups and rights organizations have dismissed these as ineffectual and politically controlled. They argue that no domestic mechanism has ever delivered justice, and the governments outright rejection of international oversight only deepens the culture of impunity.

The Sri Lankan delegation accused the accountability project of lacking credibility, claiming it has produced no benefit to Sri Lankans in its fouryear existence. It further alleged that the resolution could polarize communities and serve vested interests.

However, families of the disappeared and Tamil civil society groups welcomed the extension while warning that the current resolution remains too weak and lacks concrete enforcement mechanisms. They cited ongoing militarization, land grabs, and surveillance across the North and East as evidence of the governments insincerity.In a final rebuke, the Sri Lankan delegation stated, We reject resolution 60/L.1/Rev.1 presented to this Council.

With this extension, OHCHR will continue gathering and preserving evidence of wartime atrocities in Sri Lanka until at least 2027despite Colombos protests and attempts to block international accountability.