Sri Lanka has long lacked a formal refugee policy, and until 2005, it was not a significant destination for refugees or asylum seekers. Signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the UNHCR in 2005 allowed refugees and asylum seekers to stay temporarily until third-country resettlement. In late 2024, the UNHCR gradually reduced its operations in Sri Lanka. As a result, UNHCR informed the Sri Lankan government that registered asylum seekers would no longer be eligible for third-country resettlement and that refugees would remain in Sri Lanka until they found a third country. This announcement triggered tensions among the actors in the refugee policy sub-system. From the beginning, some actors have aligned with advocacy coalitions within this evolving refugee policy subsystem, while others have played more neutral roles as policy brokers. One of the public policy theories, the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), posits that policy brokers work to reduce political conflict and facilitate compromise between coalitions. This is a qualitative study based on both primary and secondary data. The study collects primary data by interviewing twenty (20) state and non-state actors that are actively shaping the refugee policy space in Sri Lanka by using the purposive sampling method. Also, secondary data collected through articles, books, websites, etc. Finally, by utilizing both types of data, the study analyzed how policy brokers have mediated conflict and influenced refugee governance in Sri Lanka in these controversial situations. The findings indicate that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have functioned as policy brokers within the Sri Lankan refugee policy subsystem, facilitating dialogue between competing advocacy coalitions and promoting consensus-based policy solutions. By deepening understanding of the role of policy brokers, particularly in underexplored Global South contexts, this study will contribute to expanding ACF literature.
