A quaint village in northern Jaffna is currently throwing up evidence of Sri Lanka’s gross human rights abuses and poor criminal justice system, buried in the sands of time, holding within its tombs inconvenient truths the island has long preferred to keep buried.
The world watches Sri Lanka with keen eyes as evidence of a mass grave re-emerges from Chemmani, in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna. It has refused to stay buried, a quarter century later. Chemmani is among the known mass graves, and a 26-year-long war is most likely to have birthed other sites, still unknown and unidentified. Bearing war’s painful legacy, these mass graves quietly hold the evidence of people killed and buried during years of conflict, a stark reminder of an island’s gruesome past, human rights violations and the absence of justice and accountability.
In February 2025, construction workers unearthed human remains while clearing a land adjacent to the Chemmani-Sindupathi Hindu burial ground. Following a police referral, the Jaffna Magistrate Court initiated a preliminary investigation on February 20 and ordered exhumation and excavation of the remains. On June 2, an expert team led by Prof Raj Somadeva, a top forensic archaeologist, unearthed 19 skeletal remains. As of July 5, ongoing excavations have recovered 45 skeletons, including those of children, all temporarily stored at the University of Jaffna.
Like most mass graves, until 1998, Chemmani was unknown to the world and was shrouded in mystery. It was first mentioned by Lance Corporal Somaratne Rajapakse, one of those accused for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old Tamil school girl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy. The court served the death sentence on Rajapakse and five other soldiers directly involved in the case as well as the killing of three others. Testifying before the court, Rajapakse said hundreds of people who disappeared from the Jaffna peninsula after the military seized control during 1995-1996 were killed and buried in mass graves near Chemmani. Excavations in 1999 found 15 bodies, including two identified as men who had disappeared in 1996.Present-day excavations continue to unearth skeletal remains and reopen old wounds, renewing calls for international oversight into Sri Lanka’s existing mass graves.
Visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk toured Chemmani on June 25. In his end-of-mission statement, Türk said: “Sri Lanka has struggled to move forward with domestic accountability mechanisms that are credible and have the trust and confidence of victims. That is why Sri Lankans have looked outside for justice, through assistance at the international level. It is the State’s responsibility, and it is important that this process is nationally owned–and it can be complemented and supported by international means.” Yes, Chemmani is Sri Lanka’s collective shame and evidence of systemic failure to deal with extra-judicial killings and deliver truth, justice and accountability.
Beyond Chemmani lies more shame, for Sri Lanka has witnessed waves of disappearances with mass graves silently screaming for justice and accountability. Closer to Chemmani lies the Alfred Duraiappa Stadium mass grave, discovered during renovations in 1999. Others include the Kokkuthoduvai and Mulllaitivu mass graves in the North. The Mannar grave was uncovered in 2013. Several graveyards were subsequently discovered in the area, and 346 skeletons have been unearthed so far. There has been controversy surrounding carbon dating, but forensic archaeologists conclude that the discrepancies fall within 30 years and are linked to wartime events.
There are other sites on the island. Discovered in 1994, the Sooriyakanda mass burial ground reportedly contains bodies of around 300 school children from the Embilipitiya High School in Ratnapura, killed in counterinsurgency measures during the 1988-1990 uprising of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main constituent of the current government. Following a UN request, the government excavated the area in September 1994 under court supervision and discovered an unspecified number of skeletons. Linked to those measures is the mass grave in Matale, in central Sri Lanka. Experts have concluded that it was not a typical burial site and confirmed that the remains dated back to the specified period.
There is reason to believe that more unidentified sites exist. However, for successive governments, it has been a case of deep reluctance to deal with their accountability failures. Public agitations and human rights lobbying have intensified, drawing international attention to Sri Lanka’s human rights cover-ups.
In 2006, Alston Philip, UN Special Rapporteur on Civil and Political Rights, Disappearances and Summary Executions, called for a sustained follow-up on killings and identifying parties and persons responsible. In 2017, during the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the post-war period, the UNHRC recommended a special investigations mechanism, victim and witness protection, and the gathering of fresh evidence.
In 2021, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted political obstruction of accountability for crimes and human rights violations. “Numerous commissions of inquiry appointed by successive governments failed to credibly establish the truth and ensure accountability.” Its 2024 report, “Accountability for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka”, highlighted presidential commissions of inquiry establishing the involvement of the State’s security and paramilitary groups with “elected officials living in denial about the scale and responsibility for such violations”.
They highlighted a failed criminal justice system and a legacy of failed commissions, emboldening the call for international mechanisms.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights arising since August 1, 2005 (Udalagama Commission) was established in 2006. The 2010 Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) released its report in 2011, and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances (Paranagama Commission) was set up in 2013. In 2021, a new three-member Commission of Inquiry examined the findings of previous domestic inquiries. Recommendations sent to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2023 remain undisclosed. Much hope rides on the Anura Dissanayake presidency to deliver justice and accountability. Tamils overwhelmingly contributed to the NPP’s November landslide, trusting the government to introduce confidence-building measures.
It is not about responding to international pressure. Truth, justice, and non-recurrence are Sri Lanka’s domestic and international human rights obligations towards its people. It should form a part of the NPP’s promised new political culture.
Dilrukshi Handunnetti | Award-winning journalist and lawyer; founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting
(Views are personal)
(dilrukshihandunnetti@gmail)