A Tamil mother weeps for her dissapeared son. (Photo: sangam.org)

The Asian Legal Resource Centre has previously made numerous written submissions to the Human Rights Commission on the issue of enforced or involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka. We refer to E/CN.4/2005/NGO/35, E/CN.4/2004/NGO/39, E/CN.4/2003/NGO/147 and E/CN.4/2002/NGO/74. Besides these written submissions the ALRC has also made oral submissions repeatedly on this serious matter. However, we regret to note that none of the observations and recommendations have been pursued by the government of Sri Lanka.

The ALRC also draws your attention to E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1 which contained the report on the visit to Sri Lanka by a member of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. None of the recommendations made in this document by the working group have been implemented by Sri Lanka.

The present submission is made under circumstances in which there has been a significant escalation of disappearances in the north and east as well as the south of the country, including in the capital Colombo. According to figures given by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) in the middle of 2006, 419 persons had disappeared in the Jaffna Peninsula since the previous December.¹

However, since the time that this figure was issued, the situation of internal conflict in the north and east has degenerated into intense violence, with war looming and threatening the existing ceasefire agreement. Even the Human Rights Commission has found it difficult to keep track of the numbers. In early February 2007, a former Foreign Affairs Minister of the present government, who is still a Cabinet Minister, in a letter to the President stated that a disappearance takes place every five hours in Sri Lanka.² The abductions and disappearances have spread to all parts of the country, and have included abductions of business people for ransom, journalists and trade unionists.³

A Sinhala mother demands justice for her murdered son. (Photo: People's Daily online) 

In the same letter the organization urged the High Commissioner to redouble her efforts in this area and urged her to instruct her office in Colombo to make greater diplomatic and other efforts to improve the human rights monitoring and protection in the country. The organization urged the High Commissioner to intervene with the government “……to publicly acknowledge its responsibility to stop abductions and disappearances and its capacity to do so. If it is unwilling or incapable of doing this there is justification for the United Nations and the international community to intervene on this matter. The government should demonstrate its willingness and capacity to stop these abductions and disappearances by reinstituting the task force with the capacity and special powers to pursue all complaints of abductions and disappearances, including the right to visit any place where persons are alleged to be detained. The government should also issue instructions, which should be supervised and enforced by the Inspector General of Police and the National Police Commission, such that in all instances of arrest, certificates of such arrest with the necessary details should be issued. The Human Rights Commission should alert all of its sub-offices to open a 24-hour a day service for receiving and dealing with the complaints, including a special arrangement to alert the government on this issue.  We also urge the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights to alert her office in Colombo to evolve means for diplomatic and other interventions concerning all cases of complaints of abductions and disappearances.”

The ALRC suggests that the Human Rights Council, other UN agencies and the human rights community take the following actions in the light of the present situation regarding abductions and disappearances:

1. To resolve to send a United Nations mission to monitor the problem of enforced and involuntary disappearances and abductions. Such a mission is justified, as the government of Sri Lanka has proved unwilling and/or incapable of stopping the escalation of incidents in this regard. That such an intervention could actually save lives is justification enough.
   

2. That the Working Group on disappearances conduct a visit to Sri Lanka to observe the present situation and to review the recommendations it has previously made, including those contained in E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1.
   

3. In light of the above the UN Human Rights Council as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should review the pledges made by Sri Lanka during the elections to the Human Rights Council, in which it pledged to respect and to implement the recommendations of the treaty bodies of the United Nations. Such a review, particularly in terms of enforced disappearances and abductions, could lead to the State Party agreeing to implement the recommendations it has received from UN agencies on these issues.
   

4. To encourage Sri Lanka to enact laws to make disappearances a crime in terms of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and also encourage Sri Lanka to become a signatory to the said convention.

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