Advancing Accountability for Sri Lanka
by OHCHR’s Sri Lanka Accountability Project, September 1, 2025
250919-infographic-oslap-s-repository-for sri lanka evidence
A Snapshot of OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project’s Repository
Understanding OSLap’s Repository
What it is
• OSLap’s repository contains over 112,000 materials documenting human rights violations, abuses, and serious crimes committed in Sri Lanka over the
past decades.
• The majority of these materials were inherited from previous UN bodies, including the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL). Additional materials
were collected directly by OSLap or submitted by victims and civil society organisations.
• The repository is maintained on a secure digital evidence management platform, with encryption and strict access controls.
What it shows
• The repository is victim-centred, often reflecting first-hand accounts of the experiences and harms endured by victims and survivors.
• Testimonies and reports frequently describe multiple, overlapping violations, making the collection inherently cross-cutting and intersectional.
• It provides valuable insights into the patterns, scale, and impact of violations committed in Sri Lanka.
• As a result of its victim-centred focus, the repository contains comparatively less material related to attribution of responsibility.
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Access and Safeguards
• Access to the repository is governed by United Nations rules, privileges, immunities, and safeguards, to ensure the protection of victims, witnesses,
and information providers.
• All materials are classified as “strictly confidential“ and cannot be disclosed without explicit consent from the individuals or organizations concerned.
• While OSLap regularly reviews consent with information providers, at present the vast majority have not agreed to the sharing of their information with
national authorities.
Legacy and Future use
• After OSLap’s mandate ends, its repository will be securely preserved within OHCHR, with access restricted to authorized staff only.
• While it may still support future judicial or human rights processes, OHCHR’s capacity to collect new evidence or respond to requests will be limited…
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Cross-cutting nature of OSLap’s repository
Unlawful killings: 37,905 materials
Enforced disappearances: 48,070 materials
Sexual and Gender Based Crimes: 32,099 materials
Grave violations against children: 9,163 materials
Torture: 26,185 material
Most materials in OSLap’s repository – whether reports, witness statements, or court records – cut across several types of violations. Reports often
document the full range of crimes committed, while witnesses recount their experiences as a whole, without separating one harm from another. This
makes it difficult, and sometimes artificial, to classify an item under a single violation. However, for the purposes of its thematic reporting (e.g. on
enforced disappearances in 2024 or on CRSV in 2025), OSLap used generic categories to identify violations and related information and evidence. In
many cases, the same item was tagged under more than one category, since reports and testimonies frequently describe multiple, overlapping crimes.