Sri Lanka is a de facto abolitionist country, having carried out the last execution in 1976. The country sentenced at least 17 individuals to death but carried out no executions in 2018. At least 1,299 people remain on death row.

While Sri Lanka has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1980, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).

8 August 2018: Gathered to discuss the priorities of PGA’s National Group in Sri Lanka, PGA members concluded that they were not agreeable to the death penalty and decided to work on this issue.