Sri Lanka recently graduated to an upper middle-income country with a GDP per capita of US$4,102 (2018) and a total population of 21.7 million people.1 Located in South Asia, its recent history is marred by a violent three decades-long ethnic conflict,2 and the Indian Ocean tsunami that affected many parts of the country killing over 35,000 people and displacing over 500,000.3 Political in-fighting, corruption, and nepotism have almost undone its achievements since it gained independence from the British in 1948. From 1983 to 2009, the nation was ravaged by a brutal civil war between its military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), of the ethnic minority Tamils. By the end of the conflict, close to 100,000 people had been killed or disappeared4 and the country had spent over US$200 billion on war costs.5 Its human rights record has had a roller-coaster ride, especially in the context of the armed conflict and its brutal ending.6