Letter to the High Commissioner (HRC) - 15 October 2025
British Tamils Forum (BTF) பிரித்தானிய தமிழர் பேரவை
15 October 2025
His
Excellency Mr. Volker Türk
United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva,
Switzerland
Your Excellency,
UNHRC Resolution A/HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1 – Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability, and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
We trust this letter finds you well. We wish to convey our deep concern regarding the above resolution and its implications for justice and accountability for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.
A. Addressing the Root Causes of the conflict
The conflict between the Sinhala and Tamil nations has persisted for over seven decades since independence. Limiting the ethnic conflict to issues of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while ignoring the elements of genocide, fails to address the root causes of the conflict or deliver genuine justice.
B. Access to Evidence and Judicial Integrity
*It is understood that more than 95% of the materials and interviews collected for the OSLAP mechanism were not consented for access by Sri Lanka. For any impartial judicial process, it is a legal imperative to base conclusions on a comprehensive analysis of such critical evidence.
Given this reality, how can the High Commissioner and the Core Group overlook the fact that any domestic mechanism, operating without access to these materials, will enable them to recognize the true gravity and nature of the conflict? Such omission risks undermining efforts to ensure non-recurrence of the cycle of violence and to prevent the continuation of genocidal patterns against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.*
C. Duplicity and Accountability
Resolution A/HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1 has eroded the confidence of Tamil victims who have long awaited justice. Despite the extensive evidence compiled by OSLAP—over 120,000 documents indicating systematic violations of international law and a sustained cycle of violence since 1956—the UNHRC’s continued reliance on domestic mechanisms that lack credibility and independence risks undermining its own commitment to justice and accountability. Such an approach may inadvertently convey tolerance toward, or appear to legitimize, patterns consistent with acts of genocide.
It also overlooks the longstanding record of state-sponsored violations, including state-facilitated land grabs, enforced demographic changes in the North and East - the traditional Tamil homeland, and the deliberate destruction of cultural and religious heritage—all of which perpetuate entrenched structural genocide against the Tamil people.
D. Confidentiality, Evidence Integrity, and Victim Protection
Over 120,000 items of evidence and testimonies have been meticulously compiled by OSLAP, representing years of work by experts, victims, witnesses, and civil societies. However, more than 95% of these materials remain confidential and cannot be transmitted to Sri Lanka. In this context, it is difficult to understand how a domestic prosecutorial body could credibly or effectively pursue justice without full access to such critical evidence.
Many Tamil victims provided testimony to OSLAP under assurances of confidentiality and protection. Entrusting these sensitive materials to a Sri Lankan prosecutorial body—without credible safeguards against reprisals—poses grave risks to victims and their representatives. It also undermines the trust that enabled such cooperation in the first place.
Without access to the majority of OSLAP’s evidence and without the participation of victims who now fear retaliation, any domestic tribunal will lack the capacity to identify the patterns, perpetrators, and intent behind systematic violations. This raises serious doubts about the effectiveness and impartiality of any domestic justice mechanism.
The UNHRC and the Core Group must also consider the broader implications of this approach. Continuing to rely on an incomplete and compromised process effectively renders futile the immense investment of time, expertise, and financial resources that went into establishing OSLAP. It risks diminishing the efforts of victims, witnesses, and human rights defenders who contributed to building this comprehensive repository of evidence.
Allowing a domestic mechanism to proceed under such limitations may therefore not only compromise justice but also amount to a misallocation of the UN’s limited resources, undermining the very objectives of accountability and reconciliation that the Human Rights Council seeks to achieve.
E. Possible Consequences of Resolution A/HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1
The recently enacted resolution risks reinforcing the status quo rather than advancing justice and genuine reconciliation. Despite the OHCHR’s clear recommendations in its 2024 report (A/HRC/57/19, paras. 64–65), urging the Sri Lankan Government to address the root causes of the conflict through constitutional and institutional reforms, no meaningful progress has been made. More than a year since the current administration took office, it has yet to take substantive steps toward devolution, power sharing, accountability, or structural reform to address the unattended reparation initiatives such as resettlement, reconstruction and other urgent humanitarian priorities and to ensure the non-recurrence of cycle of violence.
Instead, the Government has focused on political and corruption-related agendas, diverting attention from enduring human rights concerns and the longstanding legitimate grievances of the Tamil people. By enacting Resolution A/HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1, the UNHRC has inadvertently provided further space for delaying and avoiding genuine reform.
The presence of individuals within state institutions who were allegedly involved in gross violations of human rights during the conflict continues to cast serious doubt on the independence and impartiality of any domestic prosecutorial body. Given these circumstances, it is difficult to expect that victims will feel secure enough to participate in such processes. Their lack of trust, coupled with the absence of access to OSLAP’s comprehensive evidence within Sri Lanka, renders any domestic initiative inherently limited and ineffective.
If the UNHRC and the Core Group fail to recognize these structural and procedural shortcomings, the result will be the erosion of confidence in the international justice process itself. For Tamil people, who have placed their trust in the UN system for accountability and justice, risk has been left without recourse once again. Such an outcome would not only perpetuate impunity but also jeopardize the credibility of future UN mechanisms.
A credible and durable path to justice requires urgent reassessment. Without decisive international engagement and oversight, the cycle of violence, genocide, perpetual delay and denial will persist—further entrenching the suffering of victims and undermining the UNHRC’s mandate to uphold human rights and prevent recurrence.
F. The Way Forward
The UNHRC possesses extensive evidence confirming systematic human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Yet, persistent domestic non-compliance has obstructed meaningful accountability. Successive Sri Lankan governments, irrespective of political affiliation, have resisted international recommendations, maintained repressive laws such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and perpetuated structural and cultural genocide against the Tamil people.
Given the inherently [i]political nature and demonstrated limitations of domestic mechanisms, the UNHRC must now pursue international avenues to ensure impartial justice. This may include transferring prosecutorial authority to an independent international mechanism or referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Such measures are essential to safeguard the integrity of the accountability process and to protect victims and witnesses. As the findings of the OSLAP are central to advancing judicial processes and galvanizing international engagement, the regular publication of reports on various categories of crimes should be made a priority.
Time is of the essence. Over sixteen years have passed since the end of the brutal war, yet justice, accountability, and transitional mechanisms remain elusive. A time-bound action plan is urgently needed to prevent further delay—ensuring that the repatriation of displaced persons, resettlement and reconstruction of the war-torn North-East, and the establishment of an international judicial mechanism proceed concurrently. Without such urgency, the next opportunity for meaningful progress—projected for the 66th session in September 2027—risks deepening impunity and further eroding trust.
The OSLAP repository, containing over 120,000 pieces of evidence, represents years of dedicated work by experts, victims, civil society, and witnesses. It must serve as the foundation of any credible accountability framework. Failure to effectively utilize this invaluable resource would squander both human and financial investments, undermine victims’ trust, and weaken the UNHRC’s mandate to deliver justice and genuine reconciliation.
Ultimately, sustainable peace and stability in Sri Lanka depend on robust international oversight, timely accountability, and a credible transitional justice process. The UNHRC has both the authority and the moral responsibility to act decisively ensuring that justice for the Tamil people is no longer delayed or denied.
Thank you, Your Excellency.
Yours respectfully,
General Secretary
British Tamils Forum (BTF)
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