Following the announcement of the release of a list of complaints and information received by the Office on Missing Persons regarding people who were disappeared during Sri Lanka’s internal conflicts, the country’s authorities must now deliver justice, truth and reparation to the families, Amnesty International said today.

On 26 November 2020, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) released a list of “missing persons” to its offices. The list includes those who are unaccounted for either in connection with the conflict in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, due to civil or political unrest,  have been subject to enforced disappearance, or personnel of the armed forces, or police who have been identified as Missing In Action. The OMP has a mandate to collate data related to “missing persons” obtained by various past processes and to receive any new complaints.

“The long overdue release of this list is an important first step for the families that have waited years to learn of the fate of relatives they have not seen or heard from since the conflict. The Sri Lankan authorities must now initiate investigations into the circumstances of their disappearance, identify anyone suspected of criminal responsibility for their fate, and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecute them in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts and without recourse to death penalty,” said David Griffiths, Director of the Office of Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/article/1129271/deliver-justice-truth-and-reparation-to-families-of-the-disappeared-amnesty