Sri Lanka: Enforced disappearances have become a permanent weapon in the arsenal of suppression of dissent

In 2010 the United Nations declared 30 August as the International Day of the Victims of
Enforced Disappearances. Every year this day is commemorated to raise awareness on the
fact that enforced disappearances of persons is a crime and should not be used as a tool to
deal with situations arising out of conflicts. This year too, when this Day is commemorated
people all over the world will call for justice for the innumerable number of victims of enforced

disappearances in many parts of the world and to end impunity.
NfR Sri Lanka which is a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders joins
hands on this Day with all the people who love democracy and human rights by registering its
condemnation of the continuance of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka with impunity. Over
the past four decades successive governments in Sri Lankan have used enforced
disappearances as a tool to suppress legitimate dissent and as a method of fighting internal
armed conflicts.
From the time of the first insurrection of Sinhala youth in April 1971, till the end of civil war in the
North and East in May 2009 and even thereafter, successive governments in Sri Lankan have
used enforced disappearances as a weapon of combat. In 1971 a large number of Sinhala
youth were arrested and killed. Hundreds were burnt to death or killed and bodies disposed of
without any inquest proceedings. Again between 1988 – 1989 thousands of Sinhala youth were
kidnapped on suspicion and summarily executed. That was during the height of what is called
the ‘period of terror’ (the beeshana samaya). Throughout the war with Tamil militant
organizations since the early 1980s, enforced disappearances of Tamil youth was a major
military strategy adopted by the Sri Lankan State to deal with their militancy. Hundreds, if not
thousands, of militants and civilians who either surrendered or had been taken into custody
by the Sri Lankan security forces during and after the war ended in May, 2009, disappeared
without any trace.
Sri Lanka has the most number of the unsolved cases of disappearances reported to the United
Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances up to date. Repeated
requests by the Special Rapporteur of the UN on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to
be allowed to visit Sri Lanka have been ignored during the past 4 years.

Several Presidential Commissions of Inquiry had been appointed since 1994 to inquire and
investigate into incidents of disappearances of persons, to identify the perpetrators for
necessary action and to make recommendations on the steps that need to be taken to prevent
such incidents in the future. These Commissions were also asked to make recommendations for
relief to the victim families of the disappearances. Though the reports of the four Commissions
appointed between 1994 and 1998 had been made public, hardly any action has been taken
against most of the perpetrators nor had any action taken on the measures recommended to
prevent such incidents happening in the future. The reports of the subsequent Commissions on
Disappearances are yet to be published and disappearances of persons continue though not as
widespread as before.
The recently concluded Commission on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC)
recommended that the incidents of disappearances that had happened during and after the end
of the war be inquired into, the government is still to take action in this regard. The behaviour of
successive Sri Lankan governments in allowing enforced disappearances to continue and
protecting perpetrators, show that this is a deep routed crime which the State condones and
does not want end. The reluctance of the Government to ratify the UN Convention of
Disappearances of Persons, confirms this view.
It is a well known fact that the law enforcement bodies in Sri Lanka have now become
ineffective and there is a complete breakdown in the rule of law. The LLRC had recognized
this situation and has recommended that the Police Department be taken out of the Defence
Ministry and placed under the supervision of an independent Police Commission. Even this
recommendation is still to be implemented. Until there is a reform of the political system to bring
about the restoration of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the independence of
the police service and the human rights commission, violations of human rights and
disappearances of persons will continue with impunity.
NfR hopes to, in collaboration with like minded groups, continue to collect, document and
disseminate information on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, and work towards making
enforced disappearances in the country, a thing of the past.