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A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Saturday, May 19, 2018
Sri Lanka: Release lists of the forcibly disappeared
18 May 2018, 00:01 UTC
On the ninth anniversary of the end of the war, Amnesty International
calls on the government of Sri Lanka to provide information to the
families of the disappeared, with detailed lists and information of
persons who surrendered to the armed forces in the final phase of the
war. The President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, acknowledging the
grievances presented by family members in June 2017, promised that he
would instruct the National Security Council to release these lists.
According to surviving family members, more than 100 cadres of
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a former armed opposition
group, who surrendered to the Sri Lankan army near the Vadduvaikkal
Bridge in Mullaitivu at the end of the war in May 2009, have
subsequently disappeared. Reportedly, one group of surrenders was led by
Father Francis Joseph, a Catholic Priest who was disappeared
thereafter. According to family members who witnessed the surrenders,
they were transported from the site by the army in a convoy of buses:
their fate and whereabouts since then remain unknown. Amnesty
International reported on this alleged case of mass enforced
disappearance in an April 2017 report: “Only Justice Can Heal Our Wounds: Listening to the Demands of Families of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka”
The mass disappearance of those who surrendered at the end of the war is a clear indication of the institutionalization of the practice of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. The State’s concealment of the fate, whereabouts and information of the disappeared person triggers criminal responsibility.
As far back as August 2013, 13 of those families filed habeas corpus
applications in the courts of Sri Lanka, seeking information about their
whereabouts. They claim to have last seen their family members in the
custody of the 58th Division of the Sri Lankan Army. In February 2016,
the General Officer Commanding of the Division, Major General Kavinda
Chanakya Gunawardena was ordered to submit the list to the Mullaitivu
Magistrate court before 19 April 2016. Subsequent to failing to produce
this list on two occasions, the Magistrate in late September 2016
ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate. This was
after ruling that the documents eventually filed by the army were not a
complete record of all those who had been detained by army, but instead
reflected only those people who had completed “rehabilitation.”
The President who is also the Chairperson of the National Security
Council promised that he would instruct the Council to release lists of
persons who surrendered to the Armed forces in the final phase of the
war. He is also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. However, 11
months later these lists have not been released.
The alleged case of mass disappearance has been recorded in a number of
reports both domestic and international, including in the
government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission of
Inquiry report as “Representations to the Commission regarding alleged
disappearance after surrender/arrest,” as well as the Report of the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri
Lanka as “Enforced disappearances at the end of the armed conflict.”
Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest number of disappearances, with a backlog of between 60,000 and 100,000 alleged disappearances since the late 1980s. Given the lack of accountability for these cases, Amnesty International has noted that there is no shortage of examples of thwarted justice in Sri Lanka
The mass disappearance of those who surrendered at the end of the war is
a clear indication of the institutionalization of the practice of
enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. The State’s concealment of the
fate, whereabouts and information of the disappeared person triggers
criminal responsibility.
Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest number of disappearances, with a
backlog of between 60,000 and 100,000 alleged disappearances since the
late 1980s. Given the lack of accountability for these cases, Amnesty
International has noted that there is no shortage of examples of
thwarted justice in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has made welcome progress on the issue of disappearances with
the criminalization of enforced disappearances in March 2018, thereby
giving partial effect to the International Convention for the Protection
of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance and operationalizing the
Office of Missing Persons.
However, the government of Sri Lanka must support the spirit of these
measures by proactively supporting truth-seeking efforts by the families
of the disappeared to get answers, almost a decade after the end of the
armed conflict. Likewise, Sri Lanka should promptly recognize the
competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances to receive and
consider communications from or on behalf of victims or their relatives.
