International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Sri Lankan government to withdraw its newly proposed organized crime legislation, warning that the draft bill risks replicating the abusive powers of the country's notorious counterterrorism laws.
The call was made in an official statement issued on 29 October following the submission of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill to Parliament on 20 October, which rights advocates argue contradicts election promises made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to abolish oppressive state security frameworks.
Replicating abusive legal frameworks
HRW highlighted that the proposed law, alongside the Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill submitted earlier in October, shifts draconian provisions outside standard criminal procedure.
Although introduced to meet obligations under the 2003 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, the draft bill establishes broad definitions for serious crimes and organized groups that lack legal certainty.
Under the proposed terms, individuals could face criminal charges based on subjective factors such as physical association, meeting locations, style of dress, hand gestures, or tattoos, effectively penalizing personal association rather than proven unlawful conduct.
Sweeping executive detention and police surveillance
HRW said that the draft legislation empowers the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security to issue two-month detention orders for up to a year without magistrate discretion, restricting bail exclusively to the High Court under exceptional circumstances.
The bill retains the admissibility of police confessions in court, a practice long linked to coercive interrogation, ill-treatment, and systemic torture.
Law enforcement agencies would also gain expansive authority to conduct warrantless searches, stop vehicles, and demand owner identity, location, and call records directly from digital and telecommunication service providers without prior judicial approval.
Freedom of Expression
"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.
Rights monitors further warned that clauses prohibiting media reporting on court proceedings without judicial permission, alongside restrictions on identifying crime victims, threaten freedom of expression and public oversight.
Failure to align the proposed laws with international human rights standards could also jeopardize Sri Lanka's duty-free market access to the European Union under the GSP+ trade scheme.
HRW said that the government should immediately withdraw the draft legislation to conduct open, inclusive public consultations that guarantee robust judicial safeguards and preserve fundamental civil liberties.
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