Sri Lanka: Account for Wartime Disappearances

More Than 20 People Last Seen in Army Custody Remain Missing

April 7, 2011

Screengrab of a video obtained by Human Rights 

Watch shows LTTE leader Colonel Ramesh in

Sri Lankan army custody.

 

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The Sri Lankan government needs to respond to all allegations of disappearances with more than a ritual blanket denial. Family members of the disappeared have the right to know if their loved ones are alive or dead.

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should account for everyone who was taken into custody at the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long armed conflict in May 2009 and are feared to have been "disappeared," Human Rights Watch said today. Despite numerous requests from families for information about their relatives, the authorities do not appear to have conducted any serious investigations, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch said unresolved enforced disappearances should be part of the mandate of a proposed United Nations investigation into laws-of-war violations by both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A Panel of Experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on steps for ensuring accountability for laws-of-war violations in Sri Lanka is expected to hand over its report later in April 2011.                                         Full Story>>>