Relatives urge “Do not let the Office of Missing Persons also disappear”
In commemoration of the International Day of Enforced Disappearances which falls on August 30, the Collective of Families of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka held several programs on the 31st of August in Colombo. “What happened to the forgotten missing people? And Do not let the Office of Missing Persons also disappear” relatives of the families of the disappeared urged. They handed over two petitions to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two silent demonstrations took place in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice at noon and the official commemoration event for the missing persons in Sri Lanka in celebration of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in the evening, demanding ‘not to disappear the Day of the Enforced Disappeared and the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) too.‘
It is the firm opinion of the members of the family of the missing persons that as a result of the efforts made by the relatives of the disappeared persons over the years, they managed to get an office about the missing persons, called OMP, but the expected result did not come from that office.
“The army came to my house and took my son, saying that they wanted to take a statement. It was in 1989. But we still don’t know the reason why he was taken” said a father who came from Seethawaka who did not want to reveal his identity. The old father showed his fear of commenting on his identity.
Also, this father told Mojo News, “Even though we were informed that compensation would be given by the Office of Missing Persons, we still have not received that compensation. Is there any use for us in this office?”
A sister from Heenkenda village, Ragama, Gampaha district, demanding justice for her missing brother, told Mojo news, ” Upul Nandana is my elder brother, 22 years old. On January 16, 1990, at 11.16 pm, four army officers came inside the house with a pistol and a T-56 weapon and took away my brother by force. At that time, my brother was doing an engineering course at the German Technical Training College and was engaged in his studies for the last two months. He was supposed to go to Germany.”
She also said, they said that they would send my brother to the Panagoda military camp. But it’s been 34 years and my brother still hasn’t come. Since my father was the village official at that time, he recognized the officials who came to abduct my brother who was then 22 years. And my father wrote to all the institutions including the police and Red Cross. Also, he went to search for my brother in all the detention camps in Sri Lanka, but to no avail.” she said with frustration.
She stated that she was studying in the Advanced Level class when her brother was missing and her parents died – mother in 1997 and father in 2000 due to the pain of her brother who would have had a very bright future, being abducted.
“Now I have no one in my family. Since no justice was done. At least now, after 34 years, we all hope for justice from the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) for
these unjust abductions. ” she added with great disappointment.
And so on, “Recommit to investigate to reveal the truth and trace the disappeared in keeping with its mandate, expedite the investigations, prioritizing some of the emblematic cases, including the five cases handed over by mothers in the North-East and six cases handed over by FOD, Release a list of surrendered to the army and thereafter disappeared and reveal what happened to them, Introduce and implement a comprehensive compensation package to all families and ensure that compensation is paid in a speedy manner, Refrain from applying pressure and forcing family members who have refused to take compensation and listen to their demand of whereabouts of their loved ones and what is the fate of them and Inquire and take all necessary and immediate actions, including legal action, against perpetrators identified in the reports of Commissions of inquiry and Presidential commissions, including the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry regarding the indicates of abduction, disappearance , attacks on civilians resulting in deaths throughout the island-May 2007.” So on a petition was submitted by the mothers of the victims to the Ministry of Justice in Colombo stating 06 main demands, outlining the failure of the Missing Persons Office established in 2018 to fulfill its responsibility towards the victims in a proper manner.
Several Ambassadors who attended the official commemoration were urged to directly interfere with this ‘delayed justice ‘and to re-functioning the OMP effectively.” in the speech of the former President of the OMP Attorney-at-Law Saliya Peiris at the peoples’ gathering at BMICH.
“The Office of Missing Persons Act was introduced in 2016. An amendment was made in 2017. We were appointed to this commission in March 2018. But we didn’t have an office. There was no board of directors. But with the help of former presidential secretary Mr. Austin Fernando, we established a temporary office. But when we went to select the board of officers, we realized that we are bound by the rules and regulations of the government. We cannot hire officers as we like, we need to prepare a procedure and get approval from the Ministry of Finance. Had to go to different people for approvals. Only former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Minister Mano Ganesan gave us full support. We saw that the former president is not ready to take direct responsibility for this office regarding our appointments.” Attorney Saliya Peiris clarified the facts about the obstacles and difficulties in the operation of the Office of the Missing, which was not given due attention by the government.
“Sometimes, each and every family whose relatives have gone missing will not get answers during our lifetime. But our country, our society must admit that there
was such abduction and missing. And should make sure it doesn’t happen again. And there should be leadership who can properly understand what these families need. International leaders and ambassadors have a big role to play. And they should notice the wrongdoings by leaders of the country without giving proper attention to this OMP. Because, whoever are leaders, wrong is wrong.” Said Attorney Saliya Peiris addressing the gathering.
Meanwhile, the Tamil families of the missing persons residing in the North and East also staged a protest campaign in the North and East on August 30 to commemorate the day. Since February 2017, they have been holding protests across the North-East to seek the truth about their loved ones who were forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lankan government. At the end of the armed conflict in May 2009, many of the forcibly disappeared were handed over to government security forces. To this day, Sri Lanka has failed to investigate the disappearances and provide answers to the families.
These northern families have called for an international accountability mechanism as domestic mechanisms, such as the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) are flawed and have failed to fully investigate the disappearances. Despite multiple ledges from successive governments, the fate of the forcibly disappeared remains unknown.
According to them, since the families began their campaign for justice, over 180 Tamil parents have passed away without knowing the fate of their relatives. Sri Lanka has the second-highest number of enforced disappearances in the world.
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