A/HRC/30/61 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 25/1, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to monitor the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and to continue to assess progress on relevant national processes; to undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedures mandate holders; and to present a comprehensive report to the Council at its twenty-eighth session. 2. Following signals of engagement by the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka in January 2015 and the possibility that further information might become available for the investigation, the Human Rights Council accepted the recommendation made by the High Commissioner that consideration of the report be deferred until the thirtieth session (see A/HRC/28/23). 3. The present report includes the findings of the OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka, a special team established by the former High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, to conduct the comprehensive investigation mandated by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/1 (see also A/HRC/30/CRP.2). The High Commissioner invited three distinguished experts – Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, Dame Silvia Cartwright, former High Court judge of New Zealand, and Asma Jahangir, former President of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan – to play a supportive and advisory role. Human Rights Council special procedure mandate holders also made their input to the investigation. 4. It is important at the outset to stress that the present report represents a human rights investigation, not a criminal investigation. The time frame covered by the investigation, the extent of the violations, the amount of information available and the constraints to the investigation, including lack of access to Sri Lanka and witness protection concerns, posed enormous challenges. Nevertheless, the investigation team attempted to identify the patterns of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law perpetrated, not only during the final stage of the armed conflict but during the whole period covered by investigation. 5. These patterns of conduct consisted of multiple incidents that occurred over time. They usually required resources, coordination, planning and organization, and were often executed by a number of perpetrators within a hierarchical command structure. Such systemic acts cannot be treated as ordinary crimes but, if established in a court of law, may constitute international crimes, which give rise to command as well as individual responsibility. 6. The report is submitted to the Human Rights Council in a very different context to the one in which it was mandated. The election of a new President and Government on a platform centred on good governance, human rights and the rule of law have given Sri Lanka a historic opportunity to address the grave human rights violations that have wracked its past, to pursue accountability and institutional reform, to ensure truth, justice and redress to many thousands of victims, and to lay the basis for long-term reconciliation and peace. Sri Lanka has, however, had such opportunities in the past, and the findings of the OHCHR investigation highlight the need for political courage and leadership to tackle comprehensively the deep-seated and institutionalized impunity that generates the risk of such violations being repeated. 3