IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 413 
Recognizing 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka on May 18, 
2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing support for justice, account-
ability, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform in Sri Lanka 
to ensure a lasting peaceful political solution and a prosperous future 
for all people of Sri Lanka. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 18, 2021 
Ms. ROSS (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 
Mr. SHERMAN, and Ms. MANNING) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka 
on May 18, 2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing 
support for justice, accountability, reconciliation, recon-
struction, reparation, and reform in Sri Lanka to ensure 
a lasting peaceful political solution and a prosperous 
future for all people of Sri Lanka. 
Whereas May 18, 2021, marks the 12-year anniversary of the 
end of the 26-year armed conflict between the Govern-
ment of Sri Lanka and various armed Tamil independ-
ence organizations, including the Liberation Tigers of 
Tamil Eelam (LTTE); 
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Whereas all communities suffered from violence and counter-
violence during the civil war; 
Whereas the Tamil people of Sri Lanka suffered tens of thou-
sands of deaths, disappearances, abuses, and displace-
ments; 
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 sponsored 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) that outlined the occurrence of war crimes 
and crimes against humanity and violations of inter-
national humanitarian law during the war in Sri Lanka; 
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 under HRC 30/1, the Sri Lankan government made 
transitional justice commitments for postwar reconcili-
ation including— 
(1) an accountability mechanism with a special court 
inclusive of Commonwealth and foreign judges, prosecu-
tors, lawyers, and investigators; 
(2) a truth commission; 
(3) an office of missing persons; 
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(4) an office of reparations and institutional reforms 
aimed at nonrecurrence; and 
(5) a number of confidence-building measures; 
Whereas following the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the 
reinstallation of the Rajapaksa government in November 
2019, Sri Lanka withdrew from HRC 30/1; 
Whereas the northeastern region of the country, the tradi-
tional Tamil homeland, remains heavily militarized with 
up to one soldier for every two civilians in the most war- 
affected regions; 
Whereas the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka adopt-
ed in resolutions calling for an international investigation 
into alleged war crimes committed during the armed con-
flict and for a U.N.-monitored referendum in the north-
eastern region of the island to support the development 
of a permanent political solution; 
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka has postponed provin-
cial elections for multiple years, denying all Sri Lankans, 
including the Tamil people in the Northern Province and 
the Eastern Province, their democratic right to local rep-
resentation; 
Whereas Sri Lanka’s COVID–19 response has been led and 
executed by the military, exacerbating longstanding con-
cerns regarding state surveillance, harassment, and dis-
crimination against Tamil and Muslim communities; 
Whereas a 2021 report from the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Human Rights found that the Government 
of Sri Lanka has, over the past year— 
(1) elevated individuals implicated in war crimes to 
senior governmental positions; 
(2) pardoned a convicted war criminal; 
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(3) reversed key democratic reforms and consoli-
dated power behind the office of the President; 
(4) obstructed efforts to investigate and prosecute 
perpetrators of war crimes; 
(5) promoted majoritarian and exclusionary rhetoric; 
(6) engaged in surveillance and harassment of civil 
society organizations and human rights advocates; and 
(7) allegedly employed security forces to abduct and 
torture dissidents; 
Whereas the report warns that ‘‘Sri Lanka’s current trajec-
tory sets the scene for the recurrence of the policies and 
practices that gave rise to grave human rights viola-
tions’’; 
Whereas the United States cosponsored a UNHRC resolu-
tion, HRC 46/1 (2021), led by the United Kingdom, 
which recognizes the lack of accountability for past viola-
tions of human rights and international humanitarian law 
in Sri Lanka and directs the Office of the High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights to collect, analyze, and preserve 
information and evidence for future accountability proc-
esses for gross violations of human rights; 
Whereas no effort has been made to bring to justice those 
who are alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes 
against humanity, no investigations have begun even on 
emblematic cases, evidence gathering is hindered through 
arbitrary arrests and threats by the state, and impunity 
prevails in the country with the outdated and the exces-
sively harsh Prevention of Terrorism Act, which does not 
comply with international standards and has still not 
been repealed despite repeated promises by the govern-
ment; 
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Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated in January 2021, 
‘‘Given the demonstrated inability and unwillingness of 
the Government to advance accountability at the national 
level, it is time for international action to ensure justice 
for international crimes. States should also pursue inves-
tigations and prosecution in their national courts—under 
accepted principles of extraterritorial or universal juris-
diction—of international crimes committed by all parties 
in Sri Lanka’’; 
Whereas families of individuals who disappeared during and 
following the armed conflict still have no information re-
garding the whereabouts of their loved ones, and no lists 
of persons who surrendered to the government after the 
end of the armed conflict have been published; and 
Whereas progress on domestic and international investiga-
tions into reports of war crimes and human rights during 
the conflict and the promotion of reconciliation would fa-
cilitate United States engagement and investment in Sri 
Lanka and demonstrate support for the international rule 
of law: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) acknowledges the 12th anniversary of the 
end of the war in Sri Lanka and offers its deepest 
condolences to all those affected by the conflict; 
(2) honors the memory of those who died and 
reaffirms its solidarity with the people of all commu-
nities in Sri Lanka in their search for reconciliation, 
reconstruction, reparation, and reform; 
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(3) commends the United Nations Human 
Rights Council for prioritizing the collection and 
preservation of evidence related to human rights vio-
lations, a process that must not be interfered with 
by the Government of Sri Lanka; 
(4) recognizes the bravery and commitment of 
advocates for justice across all communities in Sri 
Lanka, including the Tamil families of the dis-
appeared, whose protests and demands for answers 
have at times been met with threats, intimidation, 
and harassment by government security forces; 
(5) urges the international community to advo-
cate for and protect the political rights and rep-
resentation of the historically oppressed northeastern 
region of Sri Lanka and work towards a permanent 
political solution to address the underlying issues 
that led to ethnic conflict; 
(6) recommends the United States explore in-
vestigations and prosecutions pursuant to the rec-
ommendations of the United Nations High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights; and 
(7) urges the United States to work with the 
United Nations General Assembly, the United Na-
tions Security Council, and the United Nations 
Human Rights Council to establish a credible and 
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effective international mechanism for accountability 
for the grave crimes committed during the war in 
Sri Lanka. 
Æ 
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