Mass graves in Sri Lanka

Families of the disappeared have called for international oversight of the investigations, fearing that the truth will be buried with the victims

There are credible allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). The Chemmani mass graves, uncovered in 1998 near Jaffna, are an unresolved case of alleged State-sponsored atrocities during the Sri Lankan civil war, which include summary executions and systematic efforts to cover up the crimes. Killings in Chemmani and other crimes must be resolved for Sri Lanka to have closure of its tragic civil war.

In 1998, a soldier testified that 300-400 Tamils killed by the army in the mid-1990s were buried there. The following year, excavations unearthed 15 skeletons, many bound and blindfolded. However, the exhumation was halted abruptly. In 2025, it was resumed and 177 skeletons were uncovered, including infants. There are likely many more victims that lie buried.

Chemmani is not an isolated case. The civil war resulted in up to 40,000 civilian deaths and 100,000 persons are missing since 1983. There are 32 documented mass graves across Sri Lanka.

One of these is in Mannar. Where 83 skeletons were uncovered at Thiruketheeswaram in 2013 and 376 skeletons, including 28 children, at Sathosa in 2018. Families of the disappeared have called for international oversight of the investigations, fearing that the truth will be buried with the victims.

Impunity provided security services with extraordinary powers

How did systematic and widespread atrocities occur? Impunity provided the security services with extraordinary powers under the Prevention of Terrorism Act to commit human rights violations including enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest and detention.

Was there a cover-up? A database of missing persons has not been made available to the public. Family members do not know if their loved ones have been killed. Tamil war widows and female-headed households still live with fear about abduction and rape.

What’s next? Work should continue to complete investigations into attacks on civilians, abductions and disappearances. The GOSL Special Investigation Commission failed. The Government did not issue death certificates and was delinquent in meeting its obligations under the Registration of Deaths Act.

Crimes happened in plain sight. BBC’s channel 4 News broadcast footage in August 2009, which depicts Government troops summarily executing bound detainees. The UN Special Representative on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions found strong evidence confirming its authenticity. The perpetrators have not been brought to justice.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 660 journalists have allegedly been killed for exposing abuses of power, crime, and human rights violations in the past 20 years.

Many victims were women and victims of sexual violence. The Association for War Affected Women led by Visaka Dharmadasa called on the Government to develop a National Action Plan to implement UN Security Council 1325 which recognises the unique role of women in peacebuilding. Real action is pending.

International experts must be engaged

The exhumation process requires international participation to be credible and effective, especially given the State’s alleged role in the crimes and past failures. International experts must be engaged to preserve the chain of custody and treat the site with meticulous care, safeguarding evidence for future judicial proceedings, whether in Sri Lanka or under universal jurisdiction abroad. 

The GOSL belongs to an intergovernmental organisation, the International Commission on Missing Persons, which is qualified to lead this process and give it credibility. The ICMP should be a part of the forensic excavation, DNA analysis, and identification process.

Sri Lanka has a legal obligation. It has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which obligates the state to investigate disappearances and take all appropriate measures to locate and return remains. Mass graves are a crime scene containing evidence for potential prosecutions. Families must be actively involved, allowed to observe, and provide DNA samples as recently mandated by a Sri Lankan court. 

Judicial oversight is needed. However, the Magistrate’s Court and the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) lack legitimacy to act as a liaison between the international team, the judiciary, and the families. The GOSL lacks the trust to lead the process.

There are steps the Government can take to regain its credibility and prevent recurrence. It must enforce the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and investigate all allegations of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings and enforced disappearances. 

It should accede to the Optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to ensure that detainees are held in recognised places of detention, have access to legal representation, and their families are notification of families. 

It can publish the names and places of detention of all imprisoned persons including those detained for incidents related to armed conflict and grant due process to all detainees held in both military and police facilities. 

In addition, the GOSL must also allow unrestricted access to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

As the father of two young girls, I feel it is especially important to determine the whereabouts of children who disappeared in the conflict and whose fate is unknown. Full disclosure of events during the civil war can help Sri Lankans move forward and lay the foundation for reconciliation between future generations.

(The writer is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program and an Academic Visitor at Oxford University’s St. Antony’s College. He previously served as a Senior Adviser to the Bureau of Central and Central South Asian Affairs at the US State Department.)