Sri Lanka to double compensation paid to missing persons’ families

Cabinet spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardena said on October 11th, that a proposal by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to increase the compensation was approved by the cabinet of ministers at Monday’s weekly cabinet meeting.

Accordingly, the statement from the government information department said that it had been previously decided in March 2022 that 100,000 rupees should be paid as compensation to close relatives of missing persons based on the certificate of missing issued by the Registrar General.

The decision to double the amount was made after taking into account the long time it took to obtain the certificate and the insufficiency of 100,000 rupees.

Minister Rajapakshe has also proposed that the requirement of obtaining the certificate of missing be ignored if the compensation secretariat has confirmed that the relevant person is missing.

This move is a result of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passing a tough new resolution on Sri Lanka, the island nation has announced a 100 percent increase in compensation paid to relatives of missing persons due to high inflation.