The UK government imposed sanctions Monday on four individuals held responsible for serious human rights abuses during Sri Lanka’s civil war. The 26-year conflict, which ended in May 2009, claimed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 lives according to UN figures, with an estimated 40,000 Tamil civilians killed during the final stages of the war.
The measures, which include UK travel bans and asset freezes, target the former Head of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces Shavendra Silva, former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army Jagath Jayasuriya and former LTTE military commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna Amman.
UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy said:
The UK government is committed to human rights in Sri Lanka, including seeking accountability for human rights violations and abuses which took place during the civil war, and which continue to have an impact on communities today. I made a commitment during the election campaign to ensure those responsible are not allowed impunity. This decision ensures that those responsible for past human rights violations and abuses are held accountable.
Muralitharan, who split from the LTTE before the war’s end, subsequently created and led the paramilitary Karuna Group, which operated on behalf of the Sri Lankan military against the LTTE.
During the 26-year civil war, atrocities were committed by both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The government perpetrated extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, while the LTTE employed tactics such as suicide bombings, the assassination of dissident Tamil politicians like Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the North, and forced recruitment of child soldiers.
Sri Lanka has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses and refused to cooperate with international investigators. Even though Sri Lankan governments have established at least ten commissions to address human rights violations, critics argue that these commissions have largely failed to translate findings into meaningful action, leading to frustration among those seeking justice.
Elected last September as the country’s first president from outside the two major political parties, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National People’s Power coalition secured a historic supermajority in the November 2024 election. This two-thirds majority gives his government the power to amend the constitution, which aligns with his campaign promise to devolve political and administrative power to local governments, districts, and provinces “so that all people can be involved in governance within one country.”
In a notable development that could signal shifting attitudes toward accountability, Sri Lanka’s parliament announced on March 14 that it will debate the long-shelved “Batlanda Commission report” from 1998, which investigated allegations of unlawful detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings by the State between 1988 and 1990 during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection. The JVP is the party of which the ruling President, Dissanakyake, is currently the leader.
Since coming to power, Dissanayake has attracted criticism for courting retired military personnel and Buddhist clergy, groups traditionally opposed to investigations of state security forces for war crimes and changes to Sri Lanka’s unitary structure. Human rights advocates argue that achieving meaningful transitional justice in Sri Lanka requires a holistic approach encompassing truth-seeking, reconciliation efforts, and structural reforms addressing political and economic inequalities.
