A new United Nations report has revealed that sexual violence during Sri Lanka’s civil war was widespread, systematic, and often carried out by state security forces, potentially amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch stated. Issued on 13 January 2025, the report underscores that both women and men were victims, with survivors continuing to suffer long-term physical, psychological, and social consequences, while impunity remains the norm.
The findings are based on survivor testimonies and evidence collected by the UN Human Rights Council’s Sri Lanka Accountability Project, established in 2021 to document crimes under international law committed during the 26-year conflict between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Photographs and videos reportedly captured by soldiers depict summary executions, sexual assaults, and killings of women fighters. Human Rights Watch highlighted that successive governments have largely failed to investigate or prosecute these crimes.
The UN report states that sexual violence was institutionally enabled by the state and employed strategically to intimidate communities, extract information, and assert dominance. Most violations occurred in government-run detention facilities, primarily affecting Tamil communities. Male survivors were also targeted, though stigma often made it difficult to document their experiences.
Survivors continue to face medical problems, social stigma, and a persistent climate of fear. Post-conflict Sri Lanka remains plagued by intimidation, ongoing surveillance, and a legal system ill-equipped to deliver justice. Legal obstacles include a 20-year statute of limitations for sexual violence and the absence of recognition of male rape in national law. Survivors attempting to report crimes often encounter harassment or humiliation by authorities.
Although the Sri Lankan government established the Office for Reparations Act in 2018 to compensate victims, the UN report finds no concrete steps have been taken to provide interim or full reparations, and statistics on survivors are not disaggregated by gender. Human Rights Watch urged the government, together with international partners, to urgently provide support, including medical care and interim relief, while holding perpetrators accountable.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said, “Sri Lanka’s international partners need to step up efforts to promote accountability for war crimes. The country is obligated under international law to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Until that happens, foreign governments must support legal processes, vet military personnel for peacekeeping missions, and pursue criminal cases abroad under universal jurisdiction.”
The UN report and Human Rights Watch stress that meaningful justice and reparations for survivors are critical steps toward ending decades of impunity and addressing the long-term harm inflicted by conflict-related sexual violence in Sri Lanka.
