Exhuming the Truth: Sri Lanka’s Mass Graves and the Search for the Disappeared

On 30 August, the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances provides an opportunity to remember those who went missing, the families who have spent decades searching for their loved ones, and to ask what must happen now to establish the truth of what happened to them and to hold accountable those who were responsible for their disappearances. 

This year, the UN also marks the 20th anniversary of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, under the theme “Victims first. Actions now.” Sri Lanka ratified the Convention in 2016, and in that time victims of enforced disappearances and their families have largely been forgotten and little action has been taken to address the estimated 60,000 to 100,000 disappearances that have occurred in the country since the 1980s. In 2025, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances noted that the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) had received 16,966 complaints, but had traced only 23 disappeared persons. Nearly a decade after it was created, serious concerns remain over the OMP’s effectiveness, independence and handling of families’ cases – causing them to lose trust in the OMP and reinforcing the sense that yet another mechanism has failed to deliver to the families the answers they were promised.

Sri Lanka’s mass graves: old questions, new discoveries

As of 20 August 2026, 582 sets of remains have reportedly been recovered from the Siththupaththi site at Chemmani, including those of babies and young children. The excavation has brought renewed focus on reports first made in the late 1990s that hundreds of people had been buried there. For Tamil families, Chemmani carries particular significance as a symbol of the patterns of widespread wartime disappearances and killings.

Chemmani is the largest mass-grave excavation in Sri Lanka to date, but it is part of a continuing pattern of discoveries of mass graves across the country over decades. Sites have been found in Sooriyakanda, Hokandara, Dikwella and Angkumbura in the South; Matale in the central region; and Sathurukondan, Kokkadichcholai, Mannar (two), Kokkuthoduvai and Chemmani in the North and East. As M C M Iqbal in an article in Groundviews  written in 2010, stated, mass graves have been linked to disappearances affecting different communities and in connection with different periods of political violence, including the JVP uprisings and the civil war.

In 2025, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances reported that the authorities had identified at least seventeen mass graves, while a 2025 joint communication from four UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures mandate holders also noted that more than 20 mass grave sites have been uncovered in Sri Lanka since 1989. A 2023 ITJP report  mapped out 20 mass graves, but since then further suspected or confirmed sites have been uncovered, including Muhamalai in Kilinochchi, Pungudutivu in Jaffna, Colombo Port and Sampur in Trincomalee. 

Mapping these sites makes the history visible. It shows that mass graves are not isolated incidents, but part of a geographically widespread and decades-long legacy of disappearances and extrajudicial killings – a legacy of “system crimes”.

It also raises the important question: what happens to the evidence once a mass grave is found?

How exhumations could help the families of the disappeared

Finding a mass grave is not the end of the search. It is the starting point for establishing what happened to those buried there. Remains, clothing and other belongings can provide crucial evidence about the identity and circumstances of death of people who may have been enforceably disappeared and unlawfully killed. But that evidence only becomes meaningful for families if it is properly preserved, examined and connected to information about those who went missing.

Sri Lanka’s previous investigations show why this matters. The  2025 Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) report on Chemmani found that Sri Lanka has not formally adopted standard operating procedures for mass-grave investigations and identified gaps in forensic expertise, limited access to DNA analysis and other specialist facilities. It also raised concerns about families’ lack of trust in the police and recommended considering an alternative to regular police involvement in the investigation. The report also drew attention to the 2003 HRCSL inquiry into disappearances in the Jaffna region, which investigated hundreds of complaints and recorded detailed testimony from families and other witnesses. The 2003 report also included a list of individuals alleged to be responsible for disappearances, together with correspondence from the Army Commander in response to the Committee’s communication concerning those allegations. Decades later, such information has not translated into accountability. New excavations should build on such critical existing evidence.

This is also where the failures of the OMP matter. The OMP was established in 2016 to search for and trace missing people, clarify their fate and whereabouts, maintain a database and protect the rights of their relatives. However, as a recent 2026 assessment by ITJP highlighted, there are serious concerns about the institution’s effectiveness, including its failure to systematically incorporate information gathered by previous state commissions, discrepancies between different sets of disappearance data and the repeated burden placed on families to provide information they had already given to earlier investigations. The UN 2024 OSLAP report found that very few exhumations have resulted in identifications, while families have often had limited involvement. 

The HRCSL has recommended a partial solution to this could be to establish a DNA bank. Earlier this year, SLC proposed an independent national DNA bank and set out how it could work, including voluntary DNA collection from families, strong safeguards for genetic data, independent oversight and systematic comparison with unidentified remains.

Chemmani and other recently discovered sites must not become investigations that end with the recovery of remains. Evidence must be preserved, victims identified, families informed and the circumstances of their deaths investigated, with credible pathways to prosecution where crimes are established. For families who have waited decades, an exhumation must be a pathway to truth, justice and answers.

“The four 1990s commissions of inquiry into disappearances whose work I was involved with documented more than 27,000 cases, other mechanisms such as the Human Rights Commission documented many more. They continued after the 1990s too – especially in the north and east, but occasionally in the south too. Disappearances are ongoing crimes. Exhumations – nearly always after accidental discoveries – are one thing; but we need proper investigations, leading to convictions of those responsible.” – M C M Iqbal

Victims first. Actions now.

The UN’s 2026 theme, “Victims first. Actions now,” is a call for Sri Lanka to ensure that every current and future excavation of discovered mass graves leads to identification, truth, justice and accountability.

• Give families answers: Put families at the heart of every exhumation, giving them meaningful opportunities to provide information and DNA, participate in identification and receive regular updates.

• Identify the missing: Establish an independent national DNA bank to match DNA from families of the disappeared with unidentified remains.

• Protect the truth: Ensure every excavation follows international forensic standards and that remains and other evidence are properly documented and preserved.

• Return their loved ones: Identify recovered remains wherever possible and ensure they are returned to families with dignity.

• Investigate what happened: Treat mass graves as critical evidence of enforced disappearance and unlawful killing, and investigate and prosecute those responsible.

• Tell families what was found: Publish the findings of exhumations, including information on remains recovered, identifications and the progress of investigations.

• Make sure no case is lost: Establish a clear national framework and designated responsibility for the excavation, preservation and investigation of mass graves, so that cases cannot continue to fall through the cracks between institutions.

• Ensure truth-seeking leads to justice: Review and reform the OMP Act. Ensure investigations lead to accountability, reparations and reforms that help prevent violations from happening again.

• Protect families, investigators and journalists. Prevent intimidation or interference by the police, military or intelligence personnel. Protect the ability of families, lawyers, civil-society representatives and journalists to participate in and monitor investigations.