By 
Sri lanka national flag by chathuraanuradha via Piaxabay, 28 January 2023.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Colombo organises a conference to offer support to the families who suffered enforced disappearances of relatives. The country is ready to face the repercussions of the war and aims to help women still dealing with the consequences of the conflict.
In December 2024, the first National Conference for the Families of Missing Persons in Sri Lanka was held in Colombo. The Conference was made possible thanks to the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and gathered 51 families from different communities and religions across the country. The conference was successful for two main reasons: firstly, it provided a humanitarian space for families of missing persons to exchange common worries, concerns, and challenges with other families in the same situation; secondly, the conference allowed families to interact with the relevant Sri Lankan authorities involved in their cases and experts on human rights violations, such as the Minister of Justice and National Integration, the Secretary to the Prime Minister, and members of the ICRC. While engaging with them, the families raised concerns about the fate of their loved ones, their whereabouts, and the lack of a support system for families in their situation (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2024).
Sri Lanka’s long history of kidnapping and forced disappearance cases goes back to the 1980s. After the outbreak of intense fighting in 1983 between the government and several separatist movements, the population of the island was subject to systematic human rights abuses that lasted until 2009. According to international human rights agencies, both sides of the conflict would kidnap citizens as a warfare tactic, resulting in thousands of Sri Lankan citizens going missing over the years. In its 2021 report, Amnesty International highlighted that the country recorded more than 6,000 cases of enforced disappearance (International Commission on Missing Persons, 2024).
In May 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner published a list of stories denouncing enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. In particular, the published story shed light on the existence of the Association for the Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances in the North and East Provinces, a civil society group created to search for all the people who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. The publication goes on to describe the story of Kamala, a mother who has been looking for her disappeared son since 2009 and decided to give her personal view on the matter. She highlights how the government of Sri Lanka has not been helpful towards women looking for their disappeared relatives; on the contrary, over the years, people like Kamala, have faced legal and procedural obstacles, campaign of harassment and intimidation by the administration, thus showing how the government keeps perpetrating further violations of humanitarian law (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2024).
During a press release in May 2024, the UN released a report urging Sri Lanka’s administration to hold those responsible for the disappearances accountable. The UN has highlighted how forced disappearance and kidnapping are crimes under both national and international laws and, as such, should be prosecuted and punished accordingly. The report presents a list of actions the government should implement to resolve its breaches of humanitarian law, namely: the location of the disappeared people who have not been found yet should be disclosed, a public apology should be issued, and any involvement of state forces should be notified. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk added that, despite some positive actions by the government such as the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the establishment of the Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations, several actions still need further investigation. He called for a full investigation of the crimes claiming the threats made against those women who continue the research for their loved ones should stop immediately (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2024).
Sri Lanka is still facing the consequences of a lengthy war that only ended in 2009. Women, and especially mothers, are still victims of this conflict as they wander looking for their children who were kidnapped during the conflict. As these women grow old, the risk of dying before they can find their children is concrete. For this reason, the conference organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross is a powerful sign from the Sri Lankan government: on the one hand, the government makes it clear that it intends to continue the research of the missing persons; on the other hand, the conference is a concrete support for these women pushing them to not give up in their research.
Sources and further reading:
International Committee of the Red Cross. (2024, December 24). Sri Lanka: First National Conference for Families of Missing Persons. International Committee of the Red Cross. <https://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/sri-lanka-first-national-conference-families-missing-person> accessed 18 February 2025.
International Commission on Missing Persons. Sri Lanka. <https://icmp.int/the-missing/where-are-the-missing/sri-lanka/> accessed 18 February 2025.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2024, May 21). Legacy of Enforced Disappearances Haunts Sri Lanka. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Latest Stories. <https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/05/legacy-enforced-disappearances-haunts-sri-lanka> accessed 19 February 2025.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2024, May 17. Sri Lanka: Accountability Needed for Enforced Disappearances. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Press Release. <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/05/sri-lanka-accountability-needed-enforced-disappearances> accessed 17 February 2025.
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