Disappearances

Women weeps as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navaneetham Pillay speaks Speech delivered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navaneetham Pillay on 30th of August 2013 in Colombo It is especially important for me to be here in Colombo to mark together with you the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.  […]

4 By Easwaran RutnamThe government last week refused to budge on its stand over various issues during several meetings held with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.Pillay had called for the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to be abolished, disappearances to be investigated, and for accountability on some of the allegations over […]

Focus-Logo It is undoubtedly a great irony that at the lowest point of the Sri Lankan Government’s adherence to the Rule of Law, we hear its carefully choreographed announcement during the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, that enforced disappearances will be criminalised. Law reform means little Is there any value […]

Hundreds of people held candles and photographs of loved ones as they marched in Sri Lanka’s capital on Friday demanding that authorities provide information about relatives who were reported missing during the country’s civil war.The vigil, marking International Day of the Disappeared, coincided with a visit by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi […]

Families of Missing Persons file Habeus Corpus Application in High Court• Use of Cluster bombs and chemical weapons alleged• Indian naval ship fired into civilians in Mullivaikkal• Christian priest too among the disappeared• Women young and old stripped naked and abused in refugee camps• Entire family including 3 small children among missing persons together with […]

Dilrukshi Handunnetti Marie Colvin, the well-known defence correspondent of the UK-based Sunday Times was crossing LTTE-controlled land to enter government territory in April 2001. Unexpectedly, Colvin ended up as a victim of Sri Lanka’s protracted war, losing her left eye in a grenade attack.   Re-emphasizing the brutality of war and how it devours innocent […]

Colombo Additional Magistrate, N. Fernando, today ordered the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to launch immediate investigations into the disappearance of 2,550 people who had gone missing in the North and East.Meanwhile, the TID Director presented the Court with a register of the names of the missing persons. The documents were given to the Court in […]

  Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday appointed a commission to investigate wartime abductions and disappearances ahead of an update to be given to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the country’s progress in investigating alleged war crimes and human rights violations. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office said he appointed retired Judge Maxwell Parakrama Parnagama to […]

  August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Wednesday ordered a new investigation into the disappearance of thousands of people in the island’s northeast during an ethnic war which ended four years ago.The announcement comes just days before UN human rights chief Navi Pillay is due to visit the island, amid international criticism of […]

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has declined to accept the proposed Presidential Commission to investigate into the disappearances that took place in the war torn areas during the conflict period. Last Thursday President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given instructions to Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge to appoint a Presidential Commission to investigate into the disappearances in the […]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga to appoint a commission to look into the incidents of disappearances that have taken place during the 30-year conflict.The decision with regard to the terms of reference and members of the commission will be taken soon, the Presidential media unit quoted Presidential Spokesman Mohan […]

Sivasooriyakumar Sanaraj, 15 years old, has been missing since 13 June, after he failed to arrive at school in Vavuniya, northern Sri Lanka. His family fears that he has been abducted, and he may be at risk of torture or extrajudicial execution. Despite complaints lodged with the local police by his family, the police have […]

An armed squad that came in a white van on Tuesday abducted a 68-year-old activist, Thangathurai Veluppillai, a supporter of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Ampaa’rai district. The victim was blindfolded while he was at Kalmunai public market and was taken away by the squad that tortured him to obtain the names of the […]

A skeleton at the Mass grave  The publically known facts about the mass grave at Matale is that the remains of 154 persons were discovered in this grave, that the remains show injuries which indicate that they were all murdered and that most likely they were assassinated sometime between 1986 and 1991. However, the key […]

The Social ArchitectsTough  Ground Realities [1]The conclusion of war has not heralded a return to peace in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Community members are still struggling with a myriad of problems related to human rights, militarization, sexual violence, alcoholism, unemployment, displacement and a lack of media freedom, among other issues. Unfortunately, community members can’t even […]

President’s humbug commission would not be allowed to conceal mass murders at Matale, despite various commissions have been appointed, people have not heard of any reports of those commissions nor anyone punished for their crimes and the party would never believe justice would be done by such commissions that have been cast to the garbage […]

Missions sons: will Gotabhaya answer? A grieving mother of two teenage sons who were abducted by the Army in 1989, narrates how she was stopped and sent back when she went to meet then Military Coordinating Officer (MCO) for Matale, Lt. Col. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. By Ranga JayasuriyaThe two teenage sons of K.G. Kamalawathi were snatched […]

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) established a special committee yesterday to collect details of its members who had gone missing between the years, 1987-90, in the Matale District and requested the families to come forward with the information, in order to identify the perpetrators.A team, under the leadership of a former JVP Provincial Council member, […]

SF: for an Internal investigation Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka says a proper domestic mechanism should be in place to address accountability issues to ward off pressure for an international investigation.Speaking to the Colombo Gazette after addressing the media today, Fonseka also said that the government cannot lean on countries like China and sideline other […]

Mahinda Rajapaksha in early 1990s campaigning for justice of the disappeared Make a decisive move on mass grave – Editorial, Ceylon Today This newspaper covered in disturbing detail, the discovery of a mass grave in the backyard of the Matale Hospital, and the gory revelations that emerged subsequently, which were made in two specialist reports […]

Text and Pix Dushiyanthini KanagasabapatipillaiWomen in the North and East were pushed to bear a double burden, after the men in the families were killed by the war, disappeared, surrendered or were detained during and after the end of the war. BW3311304 “My son is a fisherman and has been missing since 2008 from Mannar” […]

The country’s rights record has also been marred by charges of extra-judicial killings in the 1970s and 1980 A mass grave found in Sri Lanka with over 150 skeletal remains dates back to a time when thousands of people disappeared during a crackdown on Marxist rebels, a forensics expert said Thursday.Raj Somadeva said he had […]

Unending wait for relatives of the disappeared After the final war occurred between the Liberation tigers and government troops in Sri Lanka, those surrendered to the military and after getting lost, five persons concerning this have filed habeas corpus petition at the Vavuniya high court.Court ordered the 58th battalion chief officer located in Mullaitheevu and […]

The UN’s human rights body has angered Sri Lanka by voting on a new resolution that calls on the island’s government to fully investigate civilian killings in its recent conflict and expresses growing concern over continuing atrocities. But while officials in Colombo insist they are striving to account for the civil war violence and are […]

Sri-Lanka_130315 ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom The United States recently introduced its second United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka, calling attention to the government’s alleged violations of international human rights law.The resolution supports reconciliation efforts and requires government investigation into allegations of human rights abuses and indiscriminate killings of Tamil civilians that allegedly […]

Download the report in full here, or view in inline here.The Social ArchitectsIntroductionNearly four years since the end of the country’s civil war, Sri Lanka remains a divided, post-war society, as the ethnic conflict burns on. It has been fifteen months since the Final Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was made […]

Observations389. The Working Group regrets that no response was received from the Government to its general allegation on 4 May 2011, concerning serious obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of […]

A mother holding to loaf of Bread distributed as dinner after they were forced to leave their buses heading for Colombo ”On March 5th, 2013, at about 8.30pm, the Police blocked about 600 persons, comprising families of the disappeared and civil society activists from the North, from traveling from Vavuniya to Colombo to attend a […]

On March 5th, 2013, at about 8.30pm, the Police blocked about 600 persons, comprising families of the disappeared and civil society activists from the North  WATCHDOG Editors note: See our earlier report, Police impeding the movement of Tamils.]March 5th, 2013, Vavuniya On March 5th, 2013, at about 8.30pm, the Police blocked about 600 persons, comprising […]

Distressed parents held up photos of their missing children at the protest The families of people who disappeared in Sri Lanka during and after the country’s long civil war have staged a demonstration in the capital Colombo. The rally was mostly on behalf of Tamil people. Many protesters were prevented by the authorities from attending, […]