The state of civic space in Sri Lanka is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Ongoing concerns include restrictions and disruption of peaceful protests, at times with excessive use of force, and the stifling of journalists. Activists have also been targeted and criminalised using defamation and counter-terror laws, and there has been a systematic failure to address past crimes against them.
A human rights report published by the UN Human Rights Office in August 2024, identified renewed threats to fundamental freedoms in Sri Lanka, evidenced by new or proposed regressive laws, erosion of democratic checks and balances, ongoing threats and intimidation against civil society and journalists, and a recurrence of the serious human rights violations of the past.
In September 2024, left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake from the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) – a Marxist political party – won Sri Lanka’s presidential election. The election was the first to be held since mass protests unseated the country’s leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in 2022 after Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis. His alliance, the National People’s Power (NPP) – of which the JVP is a part – rose to prominence during the 2022 protests. In November 2024, the NPP coalition won a landslide victory in snap legislative elections, taking 159 seats in the 225-member assembly.
During his campaign, Dissanayake made pledges in the NPP manifesto to address several long-standing human rights issues, including abolition of all oppressive acts, ensuring civil rights of people in all parts of the country, repealing the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), removing abusive provisions of the Online Safety Act and establishing an independent Directorate of Public Prosecutions separate from the attorney general’s office. The NPP has also committed to dismantling the Executive Presidency which centralises excessive power in one individual, undermining democracy and parliamentary governance.
However, following the elections, the new government has reneged on its promise to repeal the PTA but said it will prevent its misuse. Further, in October 2024, the government rejected a resolution during the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, extending the mandate of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) by one year in Sri Lanka. Despite this, the resolution was adopted by the Council.
In recent months, activists and families of the disappeared have faced restrictions and intimidation, there have been increased control of NGOs while a protest by teachers was disrupted with arrests. Journalists continue to face restrictions, intimidation and arrest and there have been arrests of individuals for online posts under the draconian anti-terrorism law.
Peaceful Assembly
Restrictions and intimidation of activists and families of the disappeared
On 29th August 2024, a court in Trincomalee granted a request by police to ban relatives of the disappeared from holding a procession to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance on 30th August 2024.
According to Ambika Satkunathan, former Human Rights Commissioner of Sri Lanka, the Trincomalee police claimed that the demonstrations would “create conflict between ethnicities, disturb the peace and is a threat to security.” The original and signed court order in Tamil does not list persons who are banned from participating in the procession. However, the unsigned Sinhala translated version includes a list of persons banned from the demonstrations.
On 30th August 2024, Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, an activist from the People’s Struggle Alliance, was arrested in Trincomalee by Sri Lankan police. He was participating in protests organised by the Tamil Families of the Disappeared, who were staging demonstrations across the North-East to mark the International Day of the Disappeared. Footage shows Rajeevkanth being forced into a police jeep from the occupying Trincomalee Police Station before being taken away.
In yet another move to supress Tamil protests, on 30th August 2024, a court issued a restraining order against four members of the Association for the Families of the Disappeared, preventing them from protesting in Vavuniya town on 1st September.
Under section 106(01) of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Procedure Code, the restraining order prohibited these individuals from organising demonstrations and processions in Vavuniya town.
In October 2024, police issued a summons to Thambirasa Selvarani, the head of the Association for Enforced Disappearances (AERD) in Amparai. Selvarani has been at the forefront of efforts to locate victims of enforced disappearances, and this is not the first time she has faced such intimidation. She said afterwards that the police had accused her of trying to resurrect the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist armed group that was defeated in 2009.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Sri Lankan government continues to persecute the families of victims of enforced disappearance who seek to enforce their rights. Security forces persistently harass families through surveillance, intimidation, false allegations, violence and arbitrary arrests.
Protest by teachers disrupted with arrests
On 2nd December 2024, police dispersed a protest organised by the Joint School Development Officers’ Association outside the education ministry office in Pelawatte, Colombo and arrested four School Development Officers (SDOs).
Around 16,000 SDOs, who are in fact teachers, have been serving as such since 2021 but are paid less than other teachers, who have been directly recruited by the education ministry. The protest by the SDOs was to demand absorption into Sri Lanka’s teaching service and to be given the same rights as all other teachers.
According to WSWS, the government deployed hundreds of police officers to disperse the protest. Police attacked the protesters, kicking and punching them. Three police officers reportedly sustained injuries. The police accused the four teachers of being members of an unlawful gathering and blocking traffic. On 10th December 2024, the four were granted bail.
Association
Increased control of NGOs
There are concerns that new procedures introduced by the government may create barriers for freedom of association and are inconsistent with international law and standards.
In December 2024, it was reported that the government has made it compulsory for all local and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Sri Lanka, including those that have registered under the Companies Act, to register with the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organisations which has been under the Ministry of Public Security since July 2022. The registrations have been made mandatory under the Voluntary Social Service Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Act No. 31 of 1980.
Accordingly, all foreign NGOs operating or intending to operate in Sri Lanka should register only with the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organisations. Those NGOs that have already registered under the Companies Act No. 07 of 2007 are required to re-register with the National Secretariat as well, according to a notice issued by the Registrar of the Secretariat.
According to the registration procedure, international and domestic organisations are required to hand in relevant documents to the Secretariat. They will be sent to the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the relevant line ministries for clearance. A temporary certificate will be issued to the organisation for six months until the clearance reports are received, the notice said. After receiving the clearance reports from the ministries, the Director General will check the reports and issue the registration certificate if there is no problem.
The August 2024 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that activities and funding sources of CSOs are closely monitored by intelligence services, particularly in the north and east.
Ongoing trial of human rights defender Hejaaz Hizbullah
In September 2024, Lawyers for Lawyers sent a public letter to the recently appointed Attorney General in Sri Lanka, expressing concerns about the ongoing trial against lawyer and human rights defender Hejaaz Hizbullah, a minority rights advocate and legal counsel for many Muslim victims of human rights violations.
The group highlighted that the proceedings to date have been marked by irregularities and the prosecution has consistently failed to present credible and convincing evidence. In the letter, the group respectfully urged the Attorney General to drop all charges against Hizbullah and put an end to all acts of harassment against him, including at the judicial level.
As previously documented, Hejaaz was arrested on 14th April 2020. During the first eight months of his pre-trial detention, he was denied access to a lawyer. It was almost a year after his arrest, on 3rd March 2021, that Hizbullah was officially charged with “inciting communal disharmony” under the PTA, for “advocating national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights Act of 2007 and for conspiracy and abetment charges under the Penal Code. These charges all relate to a speech that Hizbullah was alleged to have made at the Al-Zuhriya Arabic College in August 2018. Hizbullah denies having made the speech and evidence is available as to his whereabouts at the time of the alleged speech. On 9th February 2022, after 22 months, he was released on bail by the Puttalam High Court. The trial is ongoing.
Expression
Journalists continue to face restrictions, intimidation and arrest
Journalists in Sri Lanka have continued to face challenges in undertaking their work, including restrictions, harassment, intimidation and arrest. The UN report from August 2024 also observed a persistent trend of surveillance of journalists.
In September 2024, international journalists attempting to travel to Sri Lanka and cover the presidential elections faced visa delays or even outright refusals.
On 9th October 2024, Induka Silva — head of the police Criminal Investigation Department’s homicide unit — sought an order from the capital’s Colombo Fort Magistrate Court against Tharindu Jayawardhana, editor-in-chief of the news website MediaLK, over a video in which he commented on allegations of misconduct against Silva and the appointment of Ravi Seneviratne to the Ministry of Public Security. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at the time the video was published, Silva was investigating Seneviratne over the government’s failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people. Seneviratne was the senior deputy inspector-general of the CID at the time. Silva’s report, accused Jayawardhana – who has reported extensively on the attacks – of publishing false information and obstructing the investigation into Seneviratne.
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Batticaloa-based Tamil journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan was arrested on 21st October 2024 for his reporting on protests against alleged corrupt activity involving a local Sri Lankan government official in 2020, spending a night in an Eravur police cell. Nilanthan was arrested on charges related to the obstruction of official duties. The following day, the Eravur Magistrate in Batticaloa District granted him bail, requiring his appearance at a later hearing in January 2025. The journalist claimed that he has been subjected to ongoing harassment and intimidation as a result of his reporting, which has included threats from police officers at his residence.
On 26th December 2024, Tamil journalist and writer Murugaiyah Thamilselvan was attacked on the A9 road in Kilinochchi town by unknown assailants. According to the Tamil Guardian, Thamilselvan was on his way home from work when two individuals in a vehicle blocked him and tried to abduct him. When he resisted the abductors attacked him and fled the scene. Thamilselvan was taken to the Kilinochchi District Hospital for emergency treatment. The freelance journalist has been reporting on political corruption, social issues confronting the public, administrative malpractice, corruption, environmental destruction, illegal drugs trade as well as soil and sand smuggling.
On 13th January 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 24 civil society organizations in urging recently elected Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to uphold press freedom.
Arrests for online posts
In November 2024, the authorities arrested a young Tamil man in Jaffna under the draconian anti-terrorism law over a Facebook post. Manoharan Kajendroopan, from Inuvil West, Chunnakam, was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). He was reportedly detained for uploading a photo of deceased LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on Facebook.
The post occurred around Maaveerar Naal (Heroes Day), which falls on 27th November, established to commemorate those killed during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict.
On 1st December 2024, The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) arrested three individuals for allegedly sharing videos related to Maaveerar Naal (Heroes Day). The police allege that the trio circulated old videos of Maaveerar Naal on social media, falsely presenting them as being from 2024. They were charged under Section 120 of the Penal Code and Section 27 of the Provisional Measures for the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) No. 48 of 1979. The charges include inciting public unrest, promoting the activities of a banned organisation, and spreading false propaganda.
On 2nd December 2024, political and social activist Kelum Jayasumana was arrested by the Computer Crime Investigation Division (CID) under Section 120 of the Penal Code. Jayasumana was accused of resharing a picture related to the LTTE that had been shared by a woman in France which ‘had the potential to incite public unrest.’ He was released on bail. At this hearing, the Magistrate questioned the CID for not providing evidence of public unrest linked to the suspect’s actions. The Magistrate stated that suspects cannot be remanded without evidence.