Two United Nations experts have urged the Government of Sri Lanka to replace the legal framework that allowed human rights violations to occur and to establish democratic institutions in line with international human rights standards. “Sri Lanka is taking steps to draft a new constitution, an undertaking that presents an opportunity to reinforce the independence and impartiality of the justice sector and provide more safeguards against torture and other serious human rights violations,” said Mónica Pinto, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in a press release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The experts, speaking at the end of their official visit to Sri Lanka on 7 May, welcomed the fact that the elections in 2015 had brought an opening in the democratic space.