Disappearances

“A journalist asked the President how the government would face the consequences of withdrawing from co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka. The Geneva resolution is a challenge to the nation’s independence and dignity. This is the only time in the history a country that has acknowledged that their own security forces have committed war […]

Image:Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, center attends an event to mark the anniversary of country’s independence from British colonial rule in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020.  © 2020 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena. Rights Activists, Journalists Facing Surveillance, Threats. (New York) – Sri Lankan security agencies are stepping up surveillance, harassment, and threats against human rights activists and […]

Image: Families of the disappeared writing names of the missing loved ones on a memorial wall. Sri Lanka does not yet have a figure regarding the total number of persons that have disappeared, says OMP. Issuing a statement on the Second Anniversary of the establishment of the Office on Missing Persons it says that “The […]

There is a dreadfully fractured logic in what the Government of Sri Lanka articulated before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as it withdrew from UNHRC Resolution 30/1 this week. This is playing to the nationalist gallery with an eye to the impending General Elections. It has disastrous consequences for the country, make no […]

Sri Lanka today told the ongoing 43rd session of UNHRC that “with regard to the issues on missing persons, steps would be taken, after necessary investigations, to issue death certificates or certificates of absence, while also providing livelihood and other assistance to affected families.” The statement read by Sri LankaMinister of Foreign Relations makes no […]

For the third successive year, Families of the Disappeared (FoD) celebrated the “Missing Lovers Day” On 14th February in Colombo at the Vihara Maha Devi Park. Nearly 1000 attended from 9 districts in South and Batticoloa from East. They gathered at the park around noon and started the campaign meeting at 130 pm. President of the […]

Image:A woman holds a picture of a missing relative at a protest calling for investigations into enforced disappearances, Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 14, 2020.  © 2020 AP Photo Rajapaksa Government Should Uphold Commitments to UN Rights Council says HRW. (New York) – Sri Lankan security forces and intelligence agencies have intensified surveillance and threats against families of victims […]

Image: Vikalpa (14 February 2020) In Sri Lanka, many families of the forcibly disappeared mark 14 February as ‘Missing Lovers Day’ in remembrance of their loved ones and to demand truth and justice The Sri Lankan government must deliver justice, truth and reparation to the families of the forcibly disappeared, Amnesty International said today, as […]

Image: A father has written his disappeared son’s name on a remembrance wall, Malidu Liyanage David and the day of the disappearance.  © sunanda deshapriya The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has commenced issuing Interim Reports to families of the missing and disappeared in order to obtain a Certificate of Absence (CoA), Saliya Pieris P.C. […]

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) was established under the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration, and Discharge of Functions) Act, No. 14 of 2016, and has a mandate to establish the fate of persons who went missing or disappeared in connection with the conflict, political unrest or civil disturbances or as a result of […]

Image: Attorney General (left) and Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda (right) at the 70th Independence Day celebration. One of the stranger if not outlandish manifestations of the upending of Sri Lanka’s legal order is the ongoing tussle between the Attorney General and the Presidential Commission inquiring into alleged incidents of political victimisation of public servants […]

Jan 27, Colombo: The Presidential Commission inquiring into incidents of alleged political victimization has issued an order preventing the Permanent High Court from proceeding the case filed against the former Commander of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda and former Navy Spokesperson Rear Admiral DKP Dassanayake. The Presidential Commission has informed the Attorney […]

(January 26, 2020) Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapakse had told U.N. Resident Coordinator Ms. Hanaa Singer that those reported missing from the war are “actually dead” and that the government would soon issue death certificates. Although the President has since clarified that death certificates will follow proper investigations, his remarks are an affront to mothers, […]

Today, 10th January 2020, is 10 years since the disappearance of journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda. It also marks 10 years of struggle for truth and justice by his wife, Sandya Ekneligoda and two young sons. Investigative reports by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the Homagama Magistrate Courts indicate that Ekneligoda was abducted from Rajagiriya […]

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday informed the United Nations Resident Coordinator Hanna Singer his government would give support to families of missing persons in order to continue with their lives, despite the Tamil Politicians’ objections. Outlining his plans to address the issue of missing persons, President Rajapaksa explained that these missing persons are actually dead. Most […]

(OFFICE ON MISSING PERSONS/MEDIA RELEASE/15 January 2020) Recent media reports have claimed that the government plans to review the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act No. 14 of 2016 (the Act) with a view to amending the same. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) officially communicated its position by letters […]

Issuing  a statement the National Peace Council has listed three issues that can have  impact upon inter-community relations with the state. The statement says that “at this time we want to express our concerns about several matters that could potentially impact upon inter-community relations with the state. “The first is the president’s statements that development […]

Image: Minister Rajitha Senaratne with the ‘White Van’ drivers at the press conference yesterday.Picture by Kelum Liyanage. The Government will begin investigations into the rest of the murders and abductions committed during the Rajapaksa era after its affirmation in power on November 17, Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday. The […]

Image: On the International Day of the Disappeared, 30 August, Colombo. © Sunanda Deshapriya. The OMP made such progress amidst an array of challenges including lack of cooperation from key state actors and continuous efforts to deny the rights of families of the missing and disappeared, says Saliya Pieris P. C. , Chairperson, Office on Missing Persons issuing a […]

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential candidate, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa today dismissed allegations on LTTE cadres who surrendered to the military during the war. Rajapaksa also said that if he becomes President his Government will not recognize the UN Resolution on Sri Lanka which was passed by the UN Human Rights Council in […]

Image: Trinco Navy camp where abducted 11 youth were held. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has decided to raise their concerns with President Maithripala Sirisena on the recent confirmation of rank granted by the Sri Lanka Navy to Commodore D.K.P Dassanayake. The former Navy Spokesman, Dassanayake is one of the main suspects connected to […]

Image: The placard asks by implication: When will you start issuing ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) ©Sunanda Deshapriya. The Government has extended, by two more years, legal provisions that enable issuance of a ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) to families of war-time missing and disappeared persons. The Registrar-General’s Department issued a Gazette Extraordinary last Wednesday to extend the effective […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is going into another presidential election in a few weeks with unresolved human rights issues and undelivered promises in hand. The Executive Presidency continues unabolished despite repeated promises of the presidential candidates who came to power in the last 25 years. Though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers […]

Image: Sri Lanka has failed to implement many of the recommendations from the WGEID. © Sunanda Deshapriya. 2019. We thank the Working Group for its follow-up report on Sri Lanka. This month marks the two years anniversary of the legislative establishment of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). While we welcome the independent work carried out by […]

Image: Waiting for the justice for disappeared relatives © Sunanda Deshapriya. Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in the report of its visit to Sri Lanka from 9 to 18 November 2015 (A/HRC/33/51/Add.2) 4. On 29 November 2018, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances requested the Government of Sri […]

Image; Mauri Inoka has been waiting six years for justice held a solo protest on 2nd September 2019 at the GalleFace Green, Colombo. © Sunanda Deshapriya. Quintus Colombage,Colombo. Mauri Inoka Jayasinghe sits silently under the hot sun by the side of a main road in Colombo. It is Sept. 2 and this painful experience in […]

Image: A solider having a look at (temporary) the memorial wall for the disappeared at OMP on 31 August 2019. © Sunanda Deshapriya Office on Missing Persons (OMP) says the Government has failed to heed the recommendations made by them on Military and Police officers involved in enforced disappearances. According to the Chairperson of the […]

Image: Families of the disappeared gathered in front of UN, Colombo and handed over a memorandum. © Sunanda Deshapriya. August 30 was the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Despite Government figures indicating more than 65,000 complaints of disappearances in Sri Lanka, for most Sri Lankans, most media and the Government, it was just […]

Image: A relative of a disappeared writing on the memorial wall at OMP on 30 Aug 2019. © Sunanda Deshapriya. UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka- Statement on the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. “No-one has been forgotten” Today we stand up for the rights of the victims of enforced disappearances and their relatives. […]

By Shreen Abdul Saroor. The International Day of the Disappeared is on the 30th August and I was in Mannar when a group of mothers were preparing to show their collective resistance at Omanthai in North and Kalmunai in East. The discussion was around how safe it is to protest even though the emergency has […]