International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) is a

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

established in 2013 to gather evidence to hold the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital o ...

accountable for war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war. Located in South Africa while being registered in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...

, the ITJP publishes its reports and press releases in English,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and Sinhala.

Members and funding

Its executive director is Yasmin Sooka, who served as a member of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka The Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka was a 2011 report produced by a panel of experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon to advise him on the issue of accountabilit ...

. Its other directors include British journalist Frances Harrison, Hanif Mohammed Vally and Zaid Kimmie; who have served as the executive directors for the Foundation for Human Rights of South Africa. It has gained grants from the Sigrid Rausing Trust.

Initiatives

Sanctions against former Sri Lankan officials

As of December 2024, it had submitted over 60 sanctions and visa ban requests against Sri Lankan public and security officials for human rights and economic crimes in Sri Lanka. These have been extended to Indian officials including members of the

IPKF Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lanka ...

. Following the recommendations by the ITJP, in March 2025 the

Government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

imposed travel sanctions on former Sri Lankan army commanders

Shavendra Silva General Shavendra Silva, (, ) is a retired Sri Lanka Army officer who served as Chief of Defence Staff, the head of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024. He also served as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army fro ...

and

Jagath Jayasuriya General (Sri Lanka), General Jagath Jayasuriya, Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya, VSV, Uttama Seva Padakkama, USP is a retired Sri Lanka Army officer; he was the Commander of the Army (Sri Lanka), Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from 15 July 2009 to 31 ...

, former navy commander Wasantha Karannagoda and former LTTE commander and pro-government paramilitary leader

Karuna Amman Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (''nom de guerre'': Colonel Karuna Amman; , ''Vināyakamūrtti Muraḷitaraņ''; born 22 June 1966) is a Sri Lankan politician and former militant. Formerly a fighter for the Tamil separatist group, the Liberation ...

as part of what the Foreign office called "UK travel bans and asset freezes, target individuals responsible for a range of violations and abuses, such as extrajudicial killings, during the civil war". The sanctions were rejected by the Sri Lankan

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, which claimed that the UK government's actions were unilateral, complicated national reconciliation process and past human rights violations should be handled by domestic accountability mechanisms; while the wartime President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected UK governments allegations of human rights violations. Wartime Army Commander Sarath Fonseka defended Shavendra Silva and criticised sanctions as "unreasonable" but agreed with sanctions against Wasantha Karannagoda and Jagath Jayasuriya.

Release of the Batalanda Commission Report

In 2025, Frances Harrison brought to global attention the Batalanda Commission Report that found former Sri Lankan President

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

was indirectly responsible for the detention centre. Following this interview, Minister Bimal Rathnayake tabled the Batalanda Commission Report in parliament 14 March 2025. Wickremesinghe responded by denying any wrongdoing and stating that the commission was politically motivated aimed at discrediting him with the report highlighting what he called terrorist acts committed by the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; , PLF) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was formerly a revolutionary movement and was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 JVP ins ...

References

External links