Chemmani and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Partners: What Responsible International Support Should Look Like

International attention should now move from statements of concern to practical support for identification, evidence preservation and families — while leaving criminal responsibility to competent courts.

The Chemmani mass-grave investigation has become one of Sri Lanka’s most important tests of whether a renewed promise of accountability can produce verifiable results. Human Rights Watch reported in September that more than 580 sets of skeletal remains had been recovered by mid-August, alongside personal belongings that may assist identification. The organisation also documented the distrust of relatives who have spent decades seeking answers about enforced disappearances.

That distrust has an international dimension. Human Rights Watch says it interviewed diplomats as part of its 2026 accountability research and recommends cooperation with the United Nations, including access for the Sri Lanka Accountability Project. An EU delegation visited Chemmani in July, while relatives of the disappeared continued to call for international involvement.

What foreign assistance can usefully do

Foreign missions do not need to decide who committed a crime in order to support a credible investigation. They can fund or facilitate independent forensic expertise, validated DNA testing, secure evidence-management systems, training, family liaison and witness protection. They can also ask for public benchmarks: how many remains have been sampled, how reference DNA will be obtained, where testing will occur, and how results will be communicated to relatives.

Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara has said Sri Lanka will need internationally recognised facilities for some DNA analysis. That creates an opportunity for technical partnerships that strengthen the court-supervised domestic process rather than displace it.

What international support should not do

Diplomatic involvement should not prejudge the identity of victims, cause of death or criminal responsibility. The existence of a mass grave is an urgent reason to investigate; it is not itself proof against a named person or institution. Scientific findings, documentary evidence and judicial process must establish those facts.

The same discipline should apply to the state. International assistance cannot become a substitute for domestic responsibility, adequate funding or timely criminal investigation. Families need a process they can see moving from excavation to identification and, where evidence supports it, prosecution.

Lanka Witness assessment: The strongest contribution foreign missions can make at Chemmani is practical and measurable: help Sri Lanka produce evidence capable of answering families’ questions and standing up in court.

Image: Kanatonian / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Illustrative Jaffna memorial image; not the Chemmani excavation.