III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 493 

Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of the peaceful, democratic, 

and economic aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2023 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. RISCH) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of the peaceful, democratic, and economic aspirations of the people 

of Sri Lanka. 

Whereas, in recent years, Sri Lanka has undergone a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis causing millions 

of Sri Lankans to live in dire conditions, with the World 

Food Program estimating that 17 percent of the population is experiencing food insecurity and severe shortages of medicine and fuel; 

Whereas the crisis in Sri Lanka stems from factors such as 

corruption, financial mismanagement, and failures in the 

rule of law, further exacerbated by the Government of Sri 

Lanka entering into expensive projects involving predatory lending by entities associated with the People’s Republic of China; 


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•SRES 493 IS 

Whereas, beginning in March 2022, tens of thousands of Sri 

Lankans participated in largely peaceful protests lasting 

more than 100 days, leading to the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the appointment of Ranil 

Wickremesinghe as the new President of Sri Lanka; 

Whereas the Wickremesinghe government, citing economic 

constraints, indefinitely postponed local elections scheduled for March 9, 2023, in violation of the Constitution 

of Sri Lanka; 

Whereas, on February 20, 2023, thousands of largely peaceful protestors demonstrated against the decision to postpone local elections, to which the Sri Lankan police responded by firing tear gas and water cannons; 

Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka continues to repress 

dissent and protest, conduct surveillance and harass 

members of civil society, and use the Prevention of Terrorism Act to target political opposition members of ethnic and religious minority groups, activists, and journalists; 

Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka continues to participate in and facilitate the illegal appropriation of land in 

the North and East, areas of historical habitation of 

Tamil speaking peoples and various ethnic and religious 

groups; 

Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka refuses to conduct 

transparent and independent investigations into credible 

allegations of corruption, historic atrocities, and other 

gross violations of human rights against Sinhalese, 

Tamil, and Muslim communities, and the United Nations 

and others have recognized that longstanding impunity 

for corruption and other human rights violations and 


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abuses is a root cause of the current crisis and that many 

actors responsible for the current crisis have been implicated in abuses dating back to the civil war and the JVP 

insurrection; 

Whereas, for more than 30 years, Sri Lanka was enveloped 

in a civil war in which, according to United Nations reports, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans died and thousands more were raped, tortured, forcibly disappeared, or 

went missing; 

Whereas United Nations reports maintain that members of 

the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and members of the Government and security services of Sri 

Lanka were implicated in horrific atrocities and human 

rights violations and abuses against Sri Lankan civilians 

during the civil war; 

Whereas, on multiple occasions, the Government of Sri Lanka 

has publicly committed to pursuing meaningful justice 

and accountability for conflict-related crimes and grievances, including in President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s May 

2009 joint statement with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and in the government of then-Prime 

Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s cosponsoring of United 

Nations Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, committing to a holistic transitional justice strategy, including a 

commission for truth, justice, reconciliation, and non-recurrence and a judicial mechanism to prosecute violations 

and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law; 

Whereas, in January 2016, under then-Prime Minister 

Wickremesinghe, the Government of Sri Lanka established a Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms led by respected members of Sri Lankan civil soVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR493.IS SR493

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ciety, which spoke to more than 7,000 Sri Lankans and 

issued a 700-page report with findings and recommendations about what the Sri Lankan people wanted from the 

Sri Lankan government in relation to justice and reconciliation, including recommendations supporting international involvement in certain transitional justice mechanisms; 

Whereas successive Sri Lankan governments have failed to 

live up to those commitments and address the desire of 

Sri Lankan victims and survivors for meaningful justice 

and accountability for the atrocities, and in March 2020, 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration withdrew 

the Government of Sri Lanka’s commitment to implement Human Rights Council resolution 30/1; 

Whereas the majority of the LTTE leadership were killed or 

disappeared during the civil war and therefore cannot 

stand trial for their crimes, and despite evidence implicating Sri Lankan government officials and security 

forces in atrocity crimes committed against Sri Lankan 

civilians during the war, no such officials or forces have 

faced justice for their crimes; 

Whereas, in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the Department of State 

imposed visa restrictions against Sri Lankan officials for 

their involvement in gross violations of human rights, including torture and inhumane punishment during the 

civil war, but successive Sri Lankan governments have 

promoted and empowered those same individuals; 

Whereas, in 2021 and 2022, the United States cosponsored 

United Nations Human Rights Council resolutions 46/1 

and 51/1, mandating that the United Nations collect, 

analyze, and preserve information and evidence of gross 

violations of human rights and serious violations of interVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR493.IS SR493

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national humanitarian law in Sri Lanka for future accountability processes; and 

Whereas, in September 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, issued a report that noted, ‘‘The 2022 economic crisis is a demonstration of the indivisibility of human rights and how 

impunity, corruption and the weakening of democratic 

and rule of law institutions ultimately impacted the economic situation. In order to achieve a path to recovery 

and sustainable development Sri Lanka will need to address the longer-term serious governance and accountability deficits, as well as the continuing legacy of the 

armed conflict.’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the peaceful, democratic, and eco3 nomic aspirations of the people of Sri Lanka; 

4 (2) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to hold 

5 free and fair local and provincial elections without 

6 further delay; 

7 (3) urges the Government and security forces of 

8 Sri Lanka to respect the rights of all Sri Lankans, 

9 including the right to protest peacefully, associate 

10 freely, and commemorate their dead; 

11 (4) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to insti12 tute meaningful security sector reform, including by 

13 reducing the deployment of security forces across the 

14 North and East to appropriate peacetime levels, and 


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1 ensure those credibly implicated in human rights 

2 abuses are removed from positions of authority; 

3 (5) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to 

4 promote an inclusive, pluralistic Sri Lanka through 

5 structural reforms and confidence-building measures 

6 to address corruption, nepotism, outsized expendi7 tures on the military, minority disenfranchisement, 

8 impunity, and other issues that hamper the long9 term potential growth of Sri Lanka; 

10 (6) welcomes Sri Lanka’s newly passed 

11 anticorruption legislation and calls on the Govern12 ment of Sri Lanka to ensure that investigations and 

13 prosecutions of corrupt officials can move forward 

14 independently and impartially; 

15 (7) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to 

16 strengthen the rule of law, including by respecting 

17 and reinforcing the independence of the judiciary 

18 and independent institutions; 

19 (8) welcomes the October 2022 passage of the 

20 21st Amendment package by the Parliament of Sri 

21 Lanka as an initial step toward reducing centralized 

22 power and encourages further measures to alleviate 

23 a lack of meaningful checks and balances; 

24 (9) welcomes the initial agreement by the Inter25 national Monetary Fund to loan Sri Lanka 


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1 $3,000,000,000 to help address the ongoing eco2 nomic crisis and urges the Government of Sri Lanka 

3 to address the recommendations of the International 

4 Monetary Fund’s September 30, 2023, staff report, 

5 which notes that the ‘‘absence of visible progress on 

6 addressing corruption and holding officials to ac7 count for past behaviour raises popular concerns 

8 that officials will continue to enjoy impunity for 

9 their misconduct’’; 

10 (10) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to im11 mediately repeal or amend the Prevention of Ter12 rorism Act and ensure that the Act or any counter13 terrorism laws passed to replace it are aligned with 

14 international norms and reflect inclusive consultation 

15 with Sri Lankan civil society; 

16 (11) calls for an immediate moratorium on the 

17 appropriation of land facilitated by the Government 

18 of Sri Lanka in the North and East and restitution 

19 of appropriated lands in a way that guarantees ef20 fective access and productive use; 

21 (12) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to 

22 fully implement the Constitution of Sri Lanka, in23 cluding the 13th Amendment’s commitments to de24 volve specified powers over land, the police, eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR493.IS SR493

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1 cation, health, agriculture, housing, and finances to 

2 the provinces; 

3 (13) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to 

4 reach a consensus with opposition parties on behalf 

5 of all Sri Lankans, including Tamils, Indian-origin 

6 Tamils, Muslims, and members of other religious 

7 and ethnic minority groups, to address longstanding 

8 issues, including those relating to human rights vio9 lations and abuses, disenfranchisement, justice, and 

10 accountability, and work toward a sustainable polit11 ical solution that promotes reconciliation; 

12 (14) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to 

13 accept and use Sri Lanka’s own Consultation Task 

14 Force report as the basis for taking action in sup15 port of justice, accountability, and reconciliation, 

16 and further calls on the government to design and 

17 implement all justice measures, including a potential 

18 truth commission, with input from, the participation 

19 of, and support from victims and survivors; and 

20 (15) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to en21 gage positively and cooperatively with the United 

22 Nations’ Human Rights Council, agencies, and spe23 cial procedure mandate holders and facilitate the im24 plementation of their recommendations on good govVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Dec 13, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR493.IS SR493

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1 ernance, rule of law, corruption, justice, account2 ability, and human rights. 

Æ 


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