“We would like to spend at least a few days with our children before we die”
May 17, 2017

15th May 2017
We mothers belong to the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappeared in the District of Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka. For three long months we have been continuously staging protests by the roadside to draw the world’s attention to our agonizing plight. We just want to know what happened to our beloved sons and daughters, our husbands and wives and our grandchildren who have disappeared. After eight years we need the truth but the Government of Sri Lanka, which claims to believe in transitional justice, has ignored us, trampled on our feelings and shown us nothing but disrespect. Basic human dignity means we should be heard.

We started this protest to hold the Sri Lankan Government accountable for its actions in the final phase of the civil war in 2008-9.
Also we wanted to know the names of all those held in secret torture camps. Some of us have compelling evidence to prove that our children have been kept in secret camps by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
Specifically we ask your help in securing from the Sri Lankan Government the release of the names of:
(a) all those who are still in their custody today and
(b) all those who were in their custody.
Although more than 80 days have already passed since we began our protest, no one from the Government has visited us or shown any interest in knowing our demands.
Our members are already badly affected physically and psychologically by the disappearance of their loved ones, and are becoming weaker and weaker. No one from the iNGOs, or the Government or the International Community has responded to our plea.
We would like to spend at least a few days with our children before we die.
Truly Yours,
The Mothers of the Disappeared, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka.