Sri Lanka to issue missing certificates to families of civil war disappeared
Campaigners’ demand granted as UN prepares to adopt resolution to bring war criminals from 26-year conflict to justice
The UN’s Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has called for an ‘independent and credible’ body to determine what happened to those who disappeared Photograph: Martial Trezzini/EPA


Tamil fighters in eastern Sri Lanka during the civil war. Up to 40,000 people may still be unaccounted for. Photograph: Julia Drapkin/AP
Campaigners’ demand granted as UN prepares to adopt resolution to bring war criminals from 26-year conflict to justice
The UN’s Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has called for an ‘independent and credible’ body to determine what happened to those who disappeared Photograph: Martial Trezzini/EPA


Tamil fighters in eastern Sri Lanka during the civil war. Up to 40,000 people may still be unaccounted for. Photograph: Julia Drapkin/AP
The Sri Lankan government is to issue “missing” certificates to the families of thousands of people who disappeared during its 26-year civil war, a move seen as an important step towards healing some of the deep scars left by the conflict.