Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a special report that dealt with the Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA) has underscored the need to narrow and clarify the definition of terrorism and related offences; remove or significantly revise provisions capable of criminalising protected expression and civic activity.

While acknowledging that the PSTA contained some additional safeguards and improvements on previous drafts, the OHCHR said that concerns remain regarding broad and insufficiently precise terrorism offences; restrictions affecting protected expression and civic activity; administrative detention and inadequate judicial control; extensive arrest and search powers; executive discretion; safeguards against torture and ill-treatment; due process and fair-trial guarantees; and effective accountability and remedies.

The OHCHR stated that terrorism and related offences ‘must’ comply with the principle of legality and be defined clearly, narrowly and foreseeably.

Counter-terrorism legislation should contain effective safeguards for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, religion or belief and participation in public affairs, and any restriction must be lawful, necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim, according to the report.

The Office is concerned that administrative detention remains central to the proposed framework. Any deprivation of liberty must be subject to prompt and effective judicial control and periodic review. Every initial and extended detention order should, therefore, require independent judicial approval, with the court empowered to refuse detention and order release. The deadline for judicial production should run from the time of arrest and apply consistently, irrespective of the arresting authority, the report says.

The Office has called for strict safeguards against arbitrary arrests, intrusive searches and possible abuses of power under the proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA), stressing that judicial warrants should be the norm and that any exceptions should be narrowly defined and subject to prompt court review.

In its observations on the Bill, the Office has also called for the exercise of law-enforcement powers by the Armed Forces and Coast Guard to be genuinely exceptional, time-limited and subject to clear civilian authority and effective accountability mechanisms.

It has also stressed the need for robust safeguards against torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and coercive interrogation.

Raising concern that the broad discretionary powers are vested in executive authorities under the proposed legislation, including those relating to detention, directives, proscription orders, restrictions and the designation of prohibited places, the Office asked for such powers to be subject to strict tests of necessity and proportionality, written reasons, disclosure requirements, clear time limits and prompt independent review. The Office has emphasised the need for independent oversight, transparency and effective avenues for accountability and redress.

The Office recommends, in particular, that the Government:

1) Narrow and clarify the definition of terrorism and related offences; remove or significantly revise provisions capable of criminalising protected expression and civic activity;

2) Require prompt, independent and effective judicial oversight of every arrest and detention;

3) Strengthen safeguards against torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance;

4) Reinforce due process and fair-trial guarantees;

5) Make judicial warrants the rule for intrusive search, entry and seizure powers;

6) Ensure civilian police primacy;

7) Establish effective independent oversight, accountability and remedies;

8) Narrow immunity provisions; and

9) Conduct meaningful public consultation before further legislative action.

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government’s Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill, submitted to parliament on October 20, 2026, risks enabling arbitrary detention, torture, and other rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposed law, alongside the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill submitted on October 6, reproduces abusive provisions in existing counterterrorism laws that would allow continuing abuses that the government had pledged to end.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power alliance pledged in its 2024 election manifesto to abolish all “oppressive” laws and ensure “civil rights of people in all parts of the country.” In particular, the Dissanayake government—like its predecessors—pledged to repeal the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Both bills presented in October replicate some of the worst aspects of the PTA, shifting abusive provisions to create parallel legal structures outside existing criminal law and without basic safeguards.

“Sri Lanka’s organized crime bill would enable prolonged detention without adequate judicial oversight or evidence of criminal conduct, and could encourage torture by allowing convictions based on confessions obtained by the police,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “If this law is adopted in its current form, it risks unleashing serious rights violations just as previous similarly draconian legislation has done.”

The purported objectives of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill are to combat organized crime and support international law enforcement cooperation. It is presented as giving effect to the 2003 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, yet fails to adhere to international standards of precision and legal certainty and removes basic due process safeguards provided in ordinary Sri Lankan criminal law, enabling the authorities to use arbitrary powers in a wide range of ill-defined circumstances.

The bill defines “serious crime” as any offense punishable with at least four years in prison and lists a large number of offenses that fall under other laws, placing a wide variety of alleged criminal activity within its extraordinary authority. It defines an “organised criminal group” as three or more people acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit.

Courts may consider whether a person is a member of an organized criminal group based on factors including physical or virtual meetings with known members; their style of dress, hand signs, language or tattoos; association with known members of the group; and habitually visiting premises known to be used by the group. Such provisions risk criminalizing association rather than conduct, allowing the authorities to detain a person without any evidence of criminal activity.

The bill would allow the secretary to the Ministry of Public Security to issue a detention order for two months at a time, for up to a year, without giving the magistrate discretion to set the detention order aside. Bail may be granted only by the High Court, with suspects accused of a serious crime only released on bail in exceptional circumstances.

In the past, the PTA incentivized torture by allowing convictions based on confessions obtained by the police. Recent reform attempts including the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill required instead for confessions to be made to a magistrate. Nevertheless, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill reproduces the abusive practice of making confessions to the police admissible in court, incentivizing coercion, ill-treatment, and torture.

The bill provides police with broad surveillance authority, including to intercept and record communications, carry out forensic extraction of data from electronic devices, and access data from telecommunications companies and online services, through court orders.

The police could, even without a court order, obtain any telecommunication, satellite, or digital service provider information relating to the identity of the owner or subscriber, calls, and the tower location, of any device, sweeping powers to expose personal communications and information and infringe rights, including of privacy and assembly. Sri Lankan law enforcement and security agencies have a long record of misusing surveillance to target human rights defenders and the families of victims of rights violations.

The organized crime bill also contains sections that could curtail freedom of expression by making it an offense to publish the name or anything that could identify a victim of crime. Further restrictions are placed on media reporting of court proceedings without court permission.

The bill also gives the police broad powers, on “reasonable suspicion” of a serious crime, to stop and search individuals and vehicles, or make arrests and seize relevant items. They could enter and search premises without a warrant. Taken together, the additional police powers with little or no judicial oversight are wide open to abuse, Human Rights Watch said. Sri Lanka’s experience with the PTA demonstrates the potential for serious rights violations under the Organised Crimes Bill.

Repealing the PTA would fulfill a key commitment that Sri Lanka made to the European Union, in exchange for tariff-free access to the EU market under its Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) program. However, the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill preserves the terrorism act’s abusive features, further weakening Sri Lanka’s compliance with its GSP+ human rights commitments.

The government did not appear to conduct consultations while drafting the bill. The government should withdraw the bill, undertake a genuine, open, and inclusive consultation, ensure legislation with robust safeguards to prevent arbitrary detention, torture, and ill treatment, and ensure judicial oversight and due process, in compliance with the government’s international legal obligations.

“Every government has a duty to combat organized crime but needs to do so in compliance with international human rights standards,” Pearson said. “The European Union should make it clear that this bill would not meet Sri Lanka’s obligations under the GSP+ trade program.”

Former Minister and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) leader Rishad Bathiudeen has expressed disappointment over the recent political direction of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), warning Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa against abandoning the principles on which their political alliance was built.

“We are not slaves of the SJB. The SJB is a political party, and we are partners in that alliance,” Bathiudeen said.

He said his party had worked tirelessly to support Premadasa during two presidential elections, with supporters spending millions of rupees and campaigning day and night.

“We brought together the votes of our people and contributed them to the alliance. It was based on agreements between our parties that National List appointments, parliamentary positions and ministerial portfolios were allocated,” he said.

Bathiudeen expressed concern that the SJB appeared to be moving away from the political positions it maintained during the presidential election.

“I am saddened by their current approach. It appears to me that they are moving away from the position they held during the presidential election,” he said.

The former minister revealed that he had personally contacted Premadasa by telephone to convey his concerns.

“I told him that we stood with him because of his policies and principles. Even if there are political setbacks, he should not compromise those principles,” Bathiudeen said.

Referring to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP), Bathiudeen said the ruling party’s electoral success demonstrated the importance of public confidence in political principles.

He said voters had supported the NPP because they believed in its stated opposition to racism and religious extremism, as well as its promise of systemic change.

Bathiudeen said he remained dissatisfied with the SJB’s recent conduct.

He warned that Sri Lanka’s past experiences demonstrated the dangers of ethnic and religious extremism.

“Our country’s history has shown us that racism and religious extremism are not good for the country, its communities or future generations,” he said.

Bathiudeen’s ACMC formally backed Premadasa’s presidential candidacy in August 2024, signing an agreement with the SJB-led alliance.

All schools across Sri Lanka will remain closed tomorrow amid continuing adverse weather conditions.

Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Seneviratne announced that the decision was taken in view of the prevailing heavy rainfall affecting several parts of the country.

The Deputy Minister said the move was made following discussions with the Department of Meteorology.