This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 63rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during a general debate on the annual report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary General held on September 8, 2026.
High Commissioner, more than 17 years since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended, your update describes a failure to provide truth to victims or hold those responsible to account.
Human Rights Watch’s latest report describes systematic impunity for countless grave international crimes committed over decades, and ongoing threats and surveillance by security agencies of victims and human rights defenders who bravely campaign for justice.
Sri Lanka’s current government, which took office nearly two years ago, had pledged to seek justice for past rights violations. There has been limited progress on a small number of investigations. The mass grave at Chemmani near Jaffna has been excavated, yet none of the 583 sets of remains found have been identified. In most other cases of grave crimes, there has been no progress at all.
Nor has the government fulfilled promises to repeal abusive legislation or establish an independent prosecutor. The failure of successive administrations to make progress on these issues has left victims’ families with no trust in official investigations.
The work of the Sri Lanka Accountability Project and engagement of this Council remain essential to preserve a path to justice for international crimes.
We would also like to highlight the situation in Tunisia where what began as a slide back into authoritarianism has hardened into systematic repression of civic space. The crackdown on the opposition, civil society organizations, independent media, and other critical voices continues unabated with arbitrary arrests, detentions, financial and criminal investigations, and mass suspensions of associations, a clear attempt to shutter civil society in the country.
The government's attacks on the judiciary have dismantled its independence, creating a justice system under executive influence.
Countries continue to provide financial support to Tunisia for migration control with little to no accountability, while migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees face widespread and serious violations by security forces, including arbitrary arrests and detention, collective expulsions to the country’s borders, ill-treatment, torture, and sexual violence.
We ask the High Commissioner what this Council should do, in line with its prevention mandate, to avoid a further deterioration of the situation in Tunisia.
