BANGKOK, Thailand (4 June 2025) – The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) strongly warns against the Sri Lankan Government’s attempts to introduce a new counter-terrorism law that may replicate and entrench the abusive powers of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
On 16 May 2025, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Justice called for public input on the repeal of the PTA and the drafting of a new anti-terror law, allowing only two weeks for submissions. The rushed process fails to meet basic standards of participatory lawmaking. It disregards long-standing calls from civil society, both domestic and international, for the complete repeal of the PTA rather than its rebranding.
FORUM-ASIA urges the Government of Sri Lanka to immediately and unconditionally repeal the PTA.
“Replacing one draconian law with another would mark a dangerous regression for fundamental freedoms and a clear breach of Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA. “The government must abandon its attempts to entrench authoritarianism under the guise of reform.”
Legal and human rights concerns
Enacted in 1979 as a temporary response to the armed struggle by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the PTA was made permanent in 1982 and has since become a primary instrument of repression.
It permits prolonged arbitrary detention, authorises the admissibility of confessions obtained under duress or torture, and grants sweeping powers to the executive, in direct violation of Sri Lanka’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The PTA has been disproportionately wielded against Tamil and Muslim communities and routinely used to suppress peaceful dissent. It was also invoked during the 2022–2023 Aragalaya protests—a mass, citizen-led protest movement demanding political accountability and economic justice—and has long served as a tool to intimidate and silence human rights defenders, including lawyers, student activists, and journalists.
These abuses are extensively documented by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, United Nations Special Procedures, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international human rights organizations.
Instead of dismantling this repressive framework, as promised following the Aragalaya, the Sri Lankan Government is now proposing to replace the PTA with a new legislation that, although not yet public, is widely expected to retain many of its problematic provisions.
Civil society has raised alarm over the lack of transparency and the composition of the drafting committee, which is dominated by state and military officials, with no representation from survivors, minorities, or independent civil society.
This process does not signal reform, it replicates the very impunity the PTA enabled.
Breach of democratic mandate
The government’s proposal violates political accountability.
The ruling National People’s Power (NPP)—a left-leaning coalition led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna—came to power on an explicit platform of human rights, transparency, and institutional reform, including a promise to repeal the PTA.
Abandoning that promise to pursue a new counter-terrorism law undermines public trust, betrays survivors and civil society, and compromises the credibility of both NPP’s electoral mandate and Sri Lanka’s democratic transition.
“Extraordinary counter-terrorism laws are routinely misused to suppress dissent, silence media, and target marginalized groups. The PTA is a textbook case. Replacing it with another discretionary law simply perpetuates this cycle of abuse. The NPP should instead focus on dismantling Sri Lanka’s repressive legal framework,” said Bacalso.
Call to action
FORUM-ASIA echoes the call of Sri Lankan civil society, victims, and rights advocates to impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the PTA, halt all pending cases relying on confessions extracted under duress, and release detainees held without credible evidence or formal charges.
Legal reform must be transparent, participatory, and led by those most affected, not dictated by security-sector actors. No counter-terrorism law should grant unchecked executive power or suppress fundamental freedoms of expression, association, or assembly.
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This statement echoes the joint submission by Sri Lankan civil society groups dated 29 May 2025, which outlines critical legal, procedural, and accountability concerns regarding the government’s proposed reform initiative.
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The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 90 member organisations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. Founded in 1991, FORUM-ASIA works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions in Asia and beyond. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and consultative relationship with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The FORUM-ASIA Secretariat is based in Bangkok, with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and Kathmandu. www.forum-asia.org
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