AbstractA peaceful and just society could be founded by preserving human rights. Every state is bound to ensure these rights. The failure of the states to protect human rights in the country would eventually lead to the string of anarchy of rule, and the outbreak of insurgencies, and armed conflicts which themselves can, in turn, cause the manifest of human rights infringements. In the arena of human rights, Sri Lanka remains in one of the countries which stand severely accused for alleged a series of violations of human rights and freedoms in the international arena. Despite certain constitutional immunities for violations of fundamental rights, successive governments in Sri Lanka have been accused of indulging in denying the equal social, civil, political and economic rights to the minority communities in the country since post-independence. This paper aims at discussing the statement that the root causes of the conflict in Sri Lanka could be traced to the abuse of collective and individual human rights. It is asserted to re-establish legal mechanism and social norms to protect human rights in relation to the root causes of the conflict in order to further achieve a sustainable peace in the country.