Britain says it regularly raises accountability, reconciliation and enforced disappearances with the Sri Lankan government, and is pressing for a credible and transparent investigation into the Chemmani mass graves that meets international standards, the Daily Mirror reported on Monday.
Chris Elmore, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said in a written parliamentary answer last week that the UK was closely monitoring developments at Chemmani and continued to engage Sri Lankan authorities on the need for a credible and transparent investigation.
That investigation, he said, should include robust forensic safeguards and meaningful engagement with the families of the disappeared.
“We have encouraged consideration of international assistance as excavations continue,” Elmore said.
The engagements he cited
Elmore set out a sequence of contacts:
- The former UK Foreign Secretary discussed the issues with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister during her visit to the UK in May.
- The former Deputy Prime Minister raised them during a visit to Sri Lanka in February 2026.
- More recently, the British High Commissioner in Colombo discussed enforced disappearances with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and met families of missing persons in Jaffna.
He said the UK remained committed to supporting truth, justice and accountability in Sri Lanka through its leadership of the Core Group on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council and its support for ongoing UN accountability mechanisms.
What the answer stops short of
The phrasing is careful. “Encouraged consideration of international assistance” is not a call for an international investigation, which is what Tamil civil society groups and families of the disappeared have been demanding. The Core Group’s own recent statements have likewise stopped short of backing an international mechanism.
That gap is live in Sri Lankan politics too: Catholic bishops have called for an impartial probe into Chemmani, and the OHCHR’s latest report pressed the government on accountability.
Chemmani
The Chemmani site near Jaffna has been under excavation through 2026, with the remains count rising across successive phases — 454 by late July and 507 at the 100-day mark in August. DNA testing has been raised in Parliament as the key unresolved step.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not say which MP asked the question, on what date it was answered, or give the Hansard reference — details that would allow the answer to be read in full. It does not name the former Foreign Secretary or former Deputy Prime Minister referred to, nor the current British High Commissioner, and does not say when the High Commissioner’s Jaffna meetings took place. It carries no response from the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry.
No other verified newsroom had filed on Elmore’s answer at the time of writing. A search of Tamil Guardian, The Island, Daily FT, EconomyNext, NewsFirst and Colombo Gazette returned only earlier UK statements on Chemmani — including a June 2025 written answer from a different minister, Catherine West, responding to a different MP — and none could be matched to this answer.
