© Photo by Kumanan Kanapathippillai
In light of the ongoing excavation at the Chemmani-Siththupaththi mass grave site in Jaffna, situated in the North of Sri Lanka, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) publishes the following statement.
As of 27 July 2025, 101 skeletal remains, including those of children and infants, had been recovered to date at Chemmani-Siththupaththi. The ICJ considers that the excavation process is a necessary, initial step toward truth and accountability, and calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that all exhumation and investigative processes be conducted in full compliance with international human rights law and standards—such as the Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death)—including with respect to investigative practice and forensic science and the rights and dignity of the dead and their families.
“We must remember that behind every set of remains lies a family that has endured unimaginable suffering. These forensic investigations must be conducted with the utmost respect for human dignity and with the full participation of families. International oversight is required to ensure that these processes meet the highest professional and legal standards that the gravity of these crimes warrants”, said Mandira Sharma, Senior International Legal Adviser of the ICJ.
“The Chemmani exhumations represent a critical juncture for Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process”, she added.
The Chemmani mass grave site came to national and international attention in 1998 following the confession of a Sri Lankan soldier implicated in the rape and murder of schoolgirl Krishanthy Kumaraswamy. It has since remained a potent and painful symbol of Sri Lanka’s long-standing legacy of impunity for grave human rights violations, including enforced disappearances. The renewed discovery of human remains almost three decades later at Chemmani-Siththupaththi in February 2025 highlights the continuing urgency of credible, transparent, rights-compliant and victim-centred investigations that are capable of leading to truth and accountability.
Sri Lanka has one of the highest numbers of cases of unresolved enforced disappearances world-wide, with estimates ranging between 60,000 and 100,000 individual cases, arising mostly from the armed conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) between 1983 and 2009. Following the end of the armed conflict, the Government established several commissions mandated to address post-conflict concerns, including the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which largely prioritized reconciliation while providing a limited focus on accountability. Despite repeated appeals from families and international actors, the rights to truth, access to justice and effective remedies and reparation have largely been denied to victims and their families.
In 2015, Sri Lanka supported a resolution at the UN highest human rights body, the Human Rights Council (HRC), that called for the establishment of transitional justice measures, including a truth commission and a judicial mechanism with international participation. However, these commitments have remained largely unfulfilled.
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP), established in 2016 to investigate cases of enforced disappearance, was initially seen as a positive step. Yet, the institution has long suffered from politicization, limited independence, and a lack of public trust. Its failure to take meaningful action, let alone produce credible investigative outcomes over the years, has undermined its legitimacy and effectiveness. While the OMP is currently observing the excavation at Chemmani, now more than ever, the institution should assert its independence, actively engage with victims and their legal representatives, and operate in line with international standards on truth-seeking and accountability.
Given the longstanding failure of domestic institutions to deliver justice, since 2012 the UN Human Rights Council has through multiple resolutions mandated the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to monitor the situation, preserve evidence, and support accountability efforts, particularly through the Sri Lanka Accountability Project under Resolution 46/1. The ICJ considers that the ongoing exhumations at Chemmani renders the need for sustained international oversight even more urgent.
The Chemmani exhumations must not be a mere forensic exercise, but an example of full compliance on the part of the authorities with Sri Lanka’s legal obligations under international law to investigate enforced disappearances and other crimes, identify victims, prosecute perpetrators when the evidence so warrants, and to provide effective remedies to the victims.
While exhumation and forensic examination of remains are essential first steps toward identification and accountability, Sri Lanka lacks a specialized national legal and institutional framework for the investigation of mass graves and enforced disappearances. Past investigations, including previous ones at Chemmani (early 2000s), Mannar (2018) and other mass grave sites, have failed to ascertain the truth, let alone deliver justice, with judicial processes either stalled or suppressed.
The ICJ supports the urgent call by families of the disappeared and local human rights groups for international oversight and technical expertise. The deployment of independent international forensic experts and human rights observers, such as those from the OHCHR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); transparent and timely updates to families and the public; and protection of the chain of custody of evidence to enable future criminal accountability, are all required.
Sri Lanka is a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which, among other things, requires the State to protect the right to life (Article 6) and ensure an effective remedy for human rights violations (Article 2). Sri Lanka has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) and adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act, No. 5 of 2018. However, this legislation has been wholly ineffective in practice, with no successful prosecutions, no effective investigations, and no detailed procedures to be followed in the conduct of exhumations.
International instruments and practices underscore that the investigation at Chemmani must not only aim to identify remains, but also to uncover the full chain of responsibility for the underlying crimes, uphold the rights of victims and their families, and preserve the grave site in accordance with both evidentiary and human rights standards.
The ICJ welcomes that the families of the disappeared are represented by legal counsel during the excavation process. However, effective legal representation must be part of a broader framework that guarantees victims’ rights throughout the investigation, including access to information, participation in decision-making, and psychosocial and protective support. International human rights law, as affirmed by the UN Human Rights Committee, requires that families be enabled to contribute evidence, propose lines of inquiry, and receive updates during all stages of the investigation.
At a time when the UN Human Rights Council is soon to decide on the prospect of continued international scrutiny over grave human rights violations of the past in the country, the credibility of Sri Lanka’s commitments to address the legacy of such violations through transitional justice mechanisms rests heavily on how it responds to Chemmani.
The victims and their families deserve nothing less than truth, justice and effective remedies, including guarantees of non-repetition. Proper investigation and accountability in this case could become a model for investigating other mass grave sites. However, this will only be possible if there is genuine political will, adequate resources, and a victim-centred approach guided by international standards. In light of this, the ICJ calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to:
- Fully comply with international standards, including the Minnesota Protocol, in investigating the Chemmani mass grave.
- Engage independent international forensic experts and human rights observers to ensure the independence, quality and credibility of the investigations.
- Provide psychosocial, legal, and protective support to families of the disappeared, enabling their meaningful participation throughout the process.
- Preserve and rigorously document all evidence to support future efforts toward criminal accountability.
- Fully implement Sri Lanka’s 2018 law on enforced disappearances and provide for clear prosecution guidelines and victim-centred procedures.
- Establish an independent Special Office to investigate and prosecute serious crimes by State officials, including enforced disappearances, with adequate resources, expertise, and international support.
- Publicly disclose findings from all past and present mass grave investigations, promoting transparency and truth.
Additionally, the ICJ urges the UN Human Rights Council to:
- Renew its resolution on Sri Lanka at its forthcoming 60th session in September-October 2025, reflecting the latest developments, such as the exhumations at Chemmani.
- Extend the mandates for OHCHR monitoring and the Sri Lanka Accountability Project, in recognition of ongoing impunity and the necessity of international oversight consistent with Sri Lanka’s international law obligations.
Background
Victims of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka include Tamil civilians in the North and East, Sinhalese young people during the 1987-1989 People’s Liberation Front (JVP) insurrection, and individuals allegedly abducted by security forces, intelligence agencies, or associated paramilitaries. Despite various commissions of inquiry, truth-seeking efforts have been inconclusive to date, and the vast majority of cases remain unresolved, with no accountability or effective remedy for victims’ families.
International standards, including the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) and the UN Guiding Principles for the Search for Disappeared Persons (2019), require that investigations into unlawful deaths be prompt, independent, impartial, effective and transparent. These standards also demand that investigations identify not only direct perpetrators but also those who were responsible in the chain of command and those who failed to prevent the violations, if any. The duty to investigate is triggered automatically when the State knows or should have known of a potentially unlawful death, without requiring a formal complaint from the next of kin.
In addition, the Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation (2020) provides a complementary and increasingly authoritative framework for the legal handling of mass graves. The Protocol articulates principles for the lawful management of mass graves that include the protection of the dignity of the deceased, the participation of affected families and communities, and the integration of forensic, cultural and memorial considerations into legal processes. Crucially, it underscores that damage, disturbance, or mishandling of mass grave sites can amount to violations of international human rights law, including the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the families, and may frustrate future accountability efforts.
For further information, please contact: Mandira Sharma, Senior International Legal Advisor at mandira.sharma@icj.org
