IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 442 
Observing 10 years since the war in Sri Lanka ended on May 18, 2009, 
commemorating the lives lost, and expressing support for transitional 
justice, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform in Sri 
Lanka, which are necessary to ensure a lasting peace and a prosperous 
future for all Sri Lankans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 13, 2019 
Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio (for himself, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
BALDERSON, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. CHABOT, and Mr. ROSE of New York) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Observing 10 years since the war in Sri Lanka ended on 
May 18, 2009, commemorating the lives lost, and ex-
pressing support for transitional justice, reconciliation, 
reconstruction, reparation, and reform in Sri Lanka, 
which are necessary to ensure a lasting peace and a 
prosperous future for all Sri Lankans. 
Whereas May 18, 2019, marks the 10-year anniversary of the 
end of the 26-year armed conflict between the Govern-
ment of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil 
Eelam (LTTE); 
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Whereas the people of Sri Lanka, including all religious and 
ethnic groups, suffered greatly as a result of this conflict, 
the impact and aftermath of which has been felt espe-
cially by women, children, and families; 
Whereas violence and counterviolence during and after the 
civil war affected all communities; 
Whereas the Tamil community was subjected to tens of thou-
sands of deaths, disappearances, and other human rights 
abuses, and both Muslim and Tamil communities were 
subjected to massive displacements; 
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka expressed its commit-
ment to addressing the needs of all ethnic groups and has 
recognized in the past the necessity of a political settle-
ment to build a peaceful, equitable, and democratic soci-
ety; 
Whereas 256 people died in the terror attacks on Easter Sun-
day, 2019, including 5 Americans, and 70 percent of the 
victims are estimated to be Tamil Christians, a commu-
nity that suffered greatly during the war; 
Whereas the Easter attacks demonstrate that postwar rec-
onciliation between Sri Lanka’s diverse communities, par-
ticularly between the Sinhalese Buddhists who dominate 
the government and security forces, and other commu-
nities on this very diverse and cosmopolitan island is cru-
cial to building a new society, that violence and discrimi-
nation against Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Tamils 
must end, while promised political, legal, and security 
sector reforms must be undertaken, and that a large mili-
tary and antiterror laws alone do not assure security; 
Whereas since the end of the war, the Government of Sri 
Lanka has resettled many of the internally displaced per-
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sons (IDPs), returned some of the private and state land 
held by the military, appointed civilian governors in the 
North and East, rebuilt some of the infrastructure de-
stroyed by the war, and maintained the peace; 
Whereas in the absence of Sri Lanka implementing the rec-
ommendations of its own Lessons Learned and Reconcili-
ation Commission or instituting a credible justice mecha-
nism to investigate serious crimes committed during and 
after the war, the United States led resolutions in the 
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 
2012, 2013, and 2014 calling in ever stronger terms for 
domestic action and reconciliation; 
Whereas the United Nation’s Office of the High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights issued a report in 2015 (the 
OISL Report) which outlined the occurrence of war 
crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of 
international humanitarian law during the war; 
Whereas following a change in government in Sri Lanka, the 
release of the OISL Report and the recommendations of 
the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United 
States cosponsored with Sri Lanka a UNHRC resolution 
in 2015, HRC/30/1, which was reaffirmed in 2017; 
Whereas in HRC 30/1 the Sri Lankan government made 
transitional justice commitments for postwar reconcili-
ation including an accountability mechanism with a spe-
cial court inclusive of Commonwealth and foreign judges, 
prosecutors, lawyers, and investigators, a truth commis-
sion, an office of missing persons, and an office of rep-
arations and institutional reforms aimed at nonrecur-
rence, along with a number of confidence-building meas-
ures; 
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Whereas Sri Lanka has held consultations with victims con-
cerning their transitional justice needs, acceded to the 
International Convention for the Protection of All Per-
sons from Enforced Disappearance and incorporated that 
treaty into domestic law as of 2018, established an Office 
of National Unity and Reconciliation, operationalized the 
Office of Missing Persons, legislated an Office of Repara-
tions, discussed a Truth Commission, debated replace-
ment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to comply with 
international standards for arrest and detention by secu-
rity forces and attempted to legislate a new constitution 
to provide the needed federalism to the North and East 
that was a root cause of the war; 
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka must meet its com-
mitments to political, legal, and security sector reforms 
in order to assure nonrecurrence of conflict; 
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka has not taken tangible 
steps toward security sector reform, including demili-
tarization of civilian functions, particularly in the North 
and East, or followed through on commitments to fully 
return or provide full restitution for the continued mili-
tary presence on private and leased state lands in the 
North and East, which continues to prevent the resettle-
ment of internally displaced persons who desire a return 
to peaceful life; 
Whereas the Sri Lankan government security forces are re-
ported to continue to act with impunity against ethnic 
and religious communities, using methods of abduction, 
torture, sexual violence, and detention without trial; 
Whereas no effort has been made to bring to justice those 
who have been alleged to have committed war crimes and 
crimes against humanity, no investigations have begun 
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even on emblematic cases, and impunity prevails in the 
country with the outdated and the excessively harsh Pre-
vention of Terrorism Act which does not comply with 
international standards still not repealed despite repeated 
promises by the government; 
Whereas families of individuals who disappeared during and 
immediately following the civil war still have no informa-
tion regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones and no 
lists of those persons who surrendered to the government 
after the end of the civil war in May 2009 have been 
published; 
Whereas the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. 
Bachelet, in her address to the Human Rights Council on 
March 20, 2019, noted, ‘‘There has been minimal 
progress on accountability’’, and insisted that Sri 
Lanka’s efforts in fulfilling all commitments made in 
Resolution 30/1 must be accelerated and implemented in 
a consistent and comprehensive manner; 
Whereas democratic institutions played a strong role in allow-
ing for the peaceful resolution of the political situation 
that arose in Sri Lanka from October to December 2018; 
Whereas the constitutional crisis in October 2018, the terror 
attacks of April 21, 2019, the upcoming elections, and 
ongoing ethnic tension should not be allowed to prevent 
the implementation of reform measures; and 
Whereas progress on domestic and international investiga-
tions into reports of war crimes, crimes against human-
ity, and other human rights violations during the conflict 
and promoting reconciliation would facilitate United 
States engagement and investment in Sri Lanka: Now, 
therefore, be it 
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Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) acknowledges the 10th anniversary of the 
end of the war in Sri Lanka and offers its deepest 
condolences to all those affected by the war in Sri 
Lanka; 
(2) honors the memory of those who died and 
reaffirms its solidarity with the Sri Lankan people 
of all communities in their search for reconciliation, 
reconstruction, reparation, and reform; 
(3) commends the Government of Sri Lanka for 
its commitments made to reconciliation and non-
recurrence of conflict between its diverse ethnic and 
religious communities through its reaffirmation by 
cosponsoring UN Human Rights Council Resolution 
HRC/40/1 in March 2019; 
(4) urges the Government of Sri Lanka to fol-
low through on its commitments regarding transi-
tional justice, accountability, and reconciliation with-
out delay and in an integrated manner by creating 
a time-bound action plan in close consultation with 
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human 
Rights; 
(5) calls on the United States to work with the 
Government of Sri Lanka to prioritize a process of 
security sector reform throughout the country; 
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(6) acknowledges the importance for parties to 
reach a political settlement on the meaningful decen-
tralization of power and power sharing; 
(7) recommends the use of the Magnitsky Act 
to prevent individuals credibly accused of war crimes 
and crimes against humanity from entering the 
United States or holding property in the United 
States, and the use of the Alien Tort Claims Act to 
prosecute individuals credibly accused of war crimes 
and crimes against humanity; 
(8) recommends the thorough vetting of individ-
uals and units of the Sri Lankan security forces be-
fore engagement with the United States military and 
encourages the Department of Defense to remain 
sensitive to the complicated ethnic and religious ten-
sions that continue to exist in postwar Sri Lanka; 
and 
(9) urges the United States to work with the 
United Nations General Assembly and the United 
Nations Human Rights Council to establish a cred-
ible and effective mechanism for accountability for 
the grave crimes committed during the war in Sri 
Lanka. 
Æ 
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