Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya says the Government’s development agenda is rooted in sustainability and human dignity and that the government aims to uplift every community and ensure that progress reaches all corners of the country.

She made these remarks while attending the United Nations Day 2025 commemoration held under the global theme “Our UN,” marking the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and 70 years of partnership between Sri Lanka and the UN. The national celebration took place on 23 October 2025 at the UN Headquarters in Colombo, with the participation of UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche and members of the UN Country Team.

The Prime Minister commended the United Nations for eight decades of global service and seven decades of meaningful partnership with Sri Lanka. She reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to upholding the shared principles of the UN Charter, peace, human rights, and sustainable development, and emphasized the continued relevance of multilateral cooperation in addressing global challenges.

“Eighty years ago, the world came together with a shared determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in human rights, and to promote social progress and development. These founding ideals, enshrined in the UN Charter, are more relevant today than ever before,” the Prime Minister stated.

Reflecting on the long-standing partnership between Sri Lanka and the United Nations, the Prime Minister noted that Sri Lanka has been an active and responsible member of the UN community since 1955, contributing to global peacekeeping, diplomacy, and sustainable development.

“Since deploying its first contingent to a UN Peacekeeping Mission in 1958, over 25,000 Sri Lankan men and women have served under the UN banner, ensuring peace and security in some of the most challenging deployments. Our country’s commitment to multilateralism has always been guided by shared responsibility and global solidarity,” she observed.

In her address, the Prime Minister also highlighted Sri Lanka’s ongoing national vision that aligns with the principles of sustainable and inclusive development promoted by the United Nations. She outlined several key initiatives of the Government, including the ‘Praja Shakthi’ National Programme aimed at eradicating poverty, the ‘Digital Sri Lanka’ initiative to modernize public service delivery and strengthen digital inclusion, and the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme, which promotes environmental, social, and ethical transformation.

PM Amarasuriya expressed appreciation for the contribution of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), including UNDP and other agencies, in supporting Sri Lanka’s development priorities through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). She noted that the Government values its partnership with the UN and its specialized agencies for their continued support in areas such as governance, poverty reduction, climate resilience, and post-conflict recovery.

The event was attended by UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche, members of the UN Country Team, diplomatic representatives, and other distinguished dignitaries and officials. (Newswire)

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The U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Sri Lanka says the government made only minimal efforts to identify and hold accountable officials responsible for human rights violations.

Referring to extrajudicial killings in 2024, the report says there were several reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during the year. 

In September, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) reported a total of seven cases of custodial deaths during the period between January and August. Police reported 103 targeted shootings throughout the year, it said. 

On Freedom of the Press, the report says even though the constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, the government sometimes restricted this right. 

In its report on the human rights situation in the country, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) observed a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation, and harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances, land seizures, environmental issues, and with former combatants in the north and east, it said. 

The report further said that there were no reports of enforced disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities, during this period.

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) reported it had not received any new complaints of missing persons or enforced disappearances during the year. There was little progress investigating allegations of abuses from the 1983-2009 civil war or the 1988-89 Marxist insurrection. Impunity and lack of accountability for war-era abuses remained a problem, it said. 

In its observations on prolonged detention without charges, the report says the government generally did not observe the requirements of the law, which prohibited arbitrary arrest and detention and provided for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of their arrest or detention in court.  

The report says the HRCSL received 838 complaints of arbitrary arrest or detention between January and August, including the arrests of journalists and politicians. According to the HRCSL, authorities notified 46 cases of arrests and detentions under the PTA between January 2023 and March 2024. 

On torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, the report observes that even though the constitution and law prohibited such practices, there were credible reports that government officials employed them.

The International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka, an international NGO documenting ongoing human rights violations in the country, confirmed that it had documented six cases in which individuals were abducted, detained without formal arrest or charges, held incommunicado for several days, subjected to torture, coerced into signing confessions, and later released, it said.

On the Online Safety Act (OSA), the report said that even though in November 2023, the Supreme Court ruled more than half of the provisions in the OSA were unconstitutional and required revisions to the law, the government had committed to making revisions but had not done so by the end of the year.

The report acknowledges acts of antisemitism and antisemitic incitement, stating that there was a small Jewish population living in different parts of the country, but there were no known reports of antisemitic incidents.

The overall findings of the U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Sri Lanka revealed that the government took minimal steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses.

Full report : https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/sri-lanka (Newswire)

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B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights on Monday published a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, becoming the first major Israeli human rights organizations to join a list of international groups making the charge.

“An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,” reads a statement presenting the report. “In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. ”

A growing number of Israel’s international critics have accused it of genocide in its war against Hamas — some even in the days immediately following the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages and sparked the fighting.

Major human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have endorsed the charge as the death toll in Gaza has mounted. But this is the first time that leading Israeli human rights watchdogs have made the accusation.

Hamas’s attack on Israel sparked a shift in the country’s policy toward Palestinians in Gaza from “repression and control to destruction and annihilation,” B’Tselem said.

Israel has consistently and vehemently denied that it is committing genocide, including in an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice. The Israel Defense Forces says that it takes extensive measures not to harm civilians in Gaza, and accuses Hamas of using Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Government officials did not immediately respond to the report by B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights.

Global pressure on Israel has intensified in recent days as reports of starvation in Gaza have spread. In response, Israel announced several measures to increase the flow of aid to the enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed allegations that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of starving Gaza’s civilian population.

But the groups said the conclusion that Israel was carrying out a genocide was clear.

“The definition of genocide is a coordinated attack with the intent to destroy a group,” Yuli Novak, executive director of B’Tselem, said. “For the past 22 months, we have witnessed unprecedented destruction of civilians, deliberate starvation, and mass forced displacement. Gaza’s residents are displaced, bombed, and starved, stripped entirely of their humanity and rights.”

The Physicians for Human Rights-Israel report was a detailed analysis focusing on what it called the step-by-step dismantling of Gaza’s health and life-sustaining systems including electricity, clean water and access to food.

Its report said Israel has committed three of the acts of genocide defined by international law, including “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

The Israeli rights groups said repeated statements by Israeli officials and the military endorsing the total destruction, starvation and permanent displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, combined with policies on the ground, have demonstrated that Israel is intentionally trying to destroy Palestinian society.

Guy Shalev, director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said it was significant that Israeli groups were now leveling the accusation, noting that the Jewish-Israeli public often dismisses accusations of genocide as antisemitic or biased against Israel.

“Perhaps human rights groups based in Israel, and coming to this conclusion, is a way to confront that accusation and get people to acknowledge the reality,” he said.

Israel asserts that it is fighting an existential war and abides by international law. It has rejected genocide allegations as antisemitic.

The rights groups, while prominent and respected internationally, are considered in Israel to be on the political fringe, and their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis. But having the allegation of genocide come from Israeli voices shatters a taboo in a society that has been reticent to criticize Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Like other rights groups, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have not been allowed into Gaza during the war. Their reports are based on documents, eyewitnesses and consultations with legal experts.

Orly Noy, chair of B’Tselem’s executive board, called for more international pressure on Israel to stop its actions.

“This crime must be stopped immediately,” Noy said at a press conference in East Jerusalem. “The responsibility lies first and foremost with Israel, but also with the international community, which must use every means to stop the crimes that are still taking place just 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) from here.”

Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people in their October 7 attack, and took 251 hostage. Fifty are still being held in captivity. Since then, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says nearly 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 459.

Israel and Hamas have engaged in successive rounds of negotiations over the course of the war, leading to two ceasefires and hostage releases, in November 2023 and January to March of this year. Negotiations over another truce and hostage release recently broke down.

In the wake of that impasse, some voices in the government have redoubled their calls on Israel to occupy the Strip and encourage its residents to emigrate, and re-establish settlements there. Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out resettling Gaza. (Times of Israel)

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A total of 49 suspects have reportedly died while in custody over the past five years from 2020 to 2025, according to Human Rights Commissioner Nimal Punchihewa.

Nimal Punchihewa said 30 of these deaths occurred during Police confrontations, adding that a total of 79 such deaths have been reported during this period, describing it as a serious issue.

Stating that some of these deaths are linked to severe torture during detention, the Human Rights Commissioner stated that misconduct by a few individuals has tarnished the reputation of entire institutions.

“Every citizen has the right to remain politically neutral. Fear of being harmed for reporting crimes discourages the public from sharing such information,” he warned.

Nimal Punchihewa criticized certain police records that label arrests as “suspicion-based” without sufficient legal justification, asserting that arrests should be backed by actual wrongdoing.

He made these remarks during a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday (02 July). (Newswire)

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A peaceful protest was held in Trincomalee today calling on the visiting UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, to address unresolved issues related to Sri Lanka’s civil war.

A group of residents of the Eastern Province handed over petitions to the UN Human Rights Chief, consisting of their appeals related to enforced disappearances, acquisition of lands, and threats faced by civil activists.

Responding to the people, Volker Türk assured he would look into the issues raised by the victims of the war. (Newswire)

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A joint letter by several Tamil political parties to the visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has highlighted the need for a sincere and genuine approach to ensure accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

The letter has been signed by representatives of political parties such as the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), All Ceylon Tamil Congress, Tamil National People’s Front, Democratic Tamil National Alliance, and civil organizations. 

The joint letter points out that the UN Human Rights Chief’s visit comes against the backdrop of 16 years of no significant progress on the question of accountability for crimes committed during the four-decade-long war.

“We are concerned that your visit will be used and is being used by the Government of Sri Lanka as an exercise in boosting their legitimacy and to weaken the resolve of your office and that of the  UN Human Rights Council to take concrete steps towards ensuring accountability in Sri Lanka,” it said. 

The joint letter further called on the UN Human Rights Chief to consider the recommendations that had been jointly presented by Tamil political parties and civil organizations in 2021 to the heads of missions of the 47 states represented in the UN Human Rights Council on ensuring accountability. (Newswire)

Joint letter to the visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka………. (1) pic.twitter.com/qo7u6f0w4u

— Gajen Ponnambalam MP (@GGPonnambalam) June 25, 2025

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Pakistan has been eager to improve its international image, which has been significantly damaged following the controversial ousting of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2022. Democratic practices, the ruling government, mainstream media, and most political parties in Pakistan are all compromised and subservient to the powerful military establishment. Nonetheless, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has effectively utilized social media platforms to openly criticize and challenge the military. More importantly, the Pakistani diaspora in Western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom strongly supports Khan’s PTI. The US and UK chapters of PTI have successfully pressured local governments regarding the “unjustified” imprisonment of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi. This campaign has significantly tarnished the international reputation of the Pakistan Army and its intelligence agencies.

Consequently, under pressure from the military establishment, Pakistan’s government has halted mainstream media coverage of Imran Khan and his party. Some journalists have even been kidnapped, killed, tortured, or disappeared by security agencies for supporting Imran Khan. International human rights organizations and foreign governments have closely monitored these developments in Pakistan and placed the blame on the military establishment. Moreover, the highly controversial and reportedly “rigged” general elections in Pakistan have significantly tarnished the country’s global image. As a result, Islamabad has been considering ways to enhance its image and engage in an international narrative-setting exercise. Under this plan, Pakistani diplomats, pro-Army academics, retired military officials, and researchers from think tanks may approach their Western counterparts to construct an Islamabad-friendly narrative. Additionally, the Pakistani government may hire lobbying firms in the U.S., the U.K., and select European countries to counter the “anti-Pakistan” narrative on social media.

Notably, Khan’s PTI has extensively utilized social media platforms to amplify their concerns and attract international attention to the issue. Since mainstream media in Pakistan is prohibited from covering PTI’s protests, social media sites like X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Facebook have been leveraged to drive Khan’s movement against the military establishment and the ruling coalition government. Several new draconian social media regulations have been implemented in the past two years to undermine PTI’s efforts. The X platform was banned in Pakistan shortly after reports of vote rigging began to emerge on social media in February. This suggested that Pakistan’s military establishment aimed to suppress alleged “misinformation” regarding election results to facilitate the formation of a controversial coalition government in Islamabad. Since then, there has been a decline in the autonomy of mainstream media, access to social media, internet availability, and online freedom in Pakistan.

In May, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged Pakistan’s new federal and provincial authorities to take urgent actions in response to the alarming signs of worsening press freedom since they took office three months ago. In the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, RSF ranked Pakistan 152 out of 180 countries, highlighting a significant decline in press freedom. Data from the United States-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) indicates that 64 journalists have been killed in connection with their work in Pakistan since 1992. The staggering levels of impunity regarding attacks on journalists reveal a critical failure of accountability and protection by government authorities in Pakistan. The country was ranked 11th on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2023 Global Impunity Index. The situation has been exacerbated by a massive state-run security crackdown on Imran Khan and his party supporters, including journalists.

Sher Afgan, a journalist with Bol News TV and the president of the press club in Dera Ghazi Khan, a city in Punjab province, along with Ghulam Mustafa, a reporter for the Daily Ausaf newspaper and president of the Anjuman-e-Sahafyan (Union of Journalists), was detained on May 7 for protesting a police raid on the press club during a press conference held by supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Senior journalist Matiullah Jan has been detained twice a year for covering PTI’s protests and advocating for Imran Khan’s release from prison. He was detained last month for covering PTI’s protest in Islamabad and was falsely charged in a “bogus” narcotics case by an Anti-Terrorist Court to pressure him against reporting on the issue. Through this blatant misuse of the legal system, Pakistan’s military and government agencies are attempting to create a ‘positive’ narrative internationally.

So far, those efforts have failed to garner any response from the international community. Conversely, PTI’s foreign chapters have successfully received support letters from legislators in the US and UK, including resolution 901 in the US House of Representatives addressing the erosion of democracy in Pakistan, along with several other critical reports from human rights organizations.[7] In June, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution with a significant bipartisan vote of 368-7. The resolution “condemns attempts to suppress the people of Pakistan’s participation in their democracy, including through harassment, intimidation, violence, arbitrary detention, restrictions on access to the internet, or any violation of their human, civil, or political rights.”

In October, over 60 Democratic lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives wrote to President Joe Biden, urging him to use Washington’s leverage with Pakistan to secure the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In addition to the issue concerning Imran Khan, foreign legislators have also raised concerns about the overall deterioration of human rights and the targeting of ethnic minorities in Pakistan. For instance, last week, U.K. MP Sojan Joseph hosted a meeting at Parliament House in London to address the growing worries about escalating human rights violations in Balochistan, particularly those attributed to Pakistani security forces. Pakistan recently established the National Committee on Narrative Building to develop effective campaign strategies for domestic and international audiences. However, it is unlikely to succeed, as the military establishment’s repression against Imran Khan and his party, independent journalists, as well as religious and ethnic minorities has become unprecedented in the country. Critical voices from Western nations are expected to grow even louder in the coming months. (European Times)

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The Russian Embassy in Colombo has issued a statement criticising the double standards of international personalities and organizations with respect to human rights matters in Sri Lanka.

The Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka has taken note of the increased external pressures on Sri Lanka by numerous Western political figures, diplomats and foreign human rights organisations criticising, the statement said. 

“In spite of the fact that the above-mentioned personalities and entities are well-known for their policy of double standards, the Embassy as the official representation of the Russian Federation would like once again to express its perplexity by the way those “ambassadors of justice” see the things,” the Russian Embassy said.

The Embassy was critical of these personalities and organizations, especially with regard to their restraint in addressing the conflict in Gaza.  

“Why are they reticent about the Gaza situation? Why don’t they provide their assessments of the humanitarian damage NATO caused to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and other regions to which the Alliance aims to export its “freedom and democracy”? What does hinder them from looking into the matter of Russian-speaking minorities being oppressed in Baltic countries? Why do they finally omit and even indulge the atrocities by the Nazi regime of Zelenskyy in respect of his own people?” The Embassy questioned. (Newswire)

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The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) states that several sections and omissions in the Online Safety Act appear to be non-compliant with the Supreme Court’s Determination on the Bill.

Issuing a statement, the HRCSL said that in its Determination on the Online Safety Bill, the Supreme Court found that over thirty clauses in the Bill and certain omissions in the Bill were inconsistent with Article 12(1), and in some cases, Article 1a(1)(a) of the Sri Lankan Constitution. 

It was, therefore, incumbent on Parliament to introduce all necessary amendments recommended by the Court if it was to enact the said Bill with a simple majority.

The Supreme Court required five categories to be separately exempted from liability for the Bill to be deemed consistent with the Constitution. However, how the Act implements the Court’s recommendation appears to be erroneous, the HRCSL pointed out.

The Commission said it is deeply concerned about the omissions in the Online Safety Act in terms of the Act’s full compliance with the Supreme Court’s Determination. 

“Any such omission, and consequently, any remaining inconsistency with the Constitution, would have required that the Online Safety Bill be enacted only with a special majority in Parliament. Therefore, the failure to ensure full compliance with the Court’s determination may give occasion to serious concerns over whether the Act, in its current form, received the requisite number of votes in Parliament,” the Commission added.

The Online Safety Bill was passed in the Parliament of Sri Lanka on January 24, 2024, with a majority of MPs supporting the bill, despite the Opposition claiming that the amendments proposed were not consistent with the Supreme Court’s determination. (NewsWire)

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