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Families of Sri Lanka's missing seek truth, justice

Island nation may face tough questions on wartime abuses, accountability at upcoming UNHRC session
Families of disappeared persons demonstrate on the streets marking the 2,000th day of their protests in Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka on Aug. 12

Families of disappeared persons demonstrate on the streets marking the 2,000th day of their protests in Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka on Aug. 12. (Photo: Rubatheesan Sandran)

Published: September 01, 2022 10:15 AM GMT
Updated: September 01, 2022 10:16 AM GMT

The last time Mariasuresh Eswari, 43, saw her husband alive was on May 16, 2009, days before the final phases of the bloody civil war were brought to an end.

He’d promised to get some fish for the family from the sea nearby.

Her family, like hundreds of others at the time, was in Nandikadal Lagoon in Sri Lanka’s Mullaithivu after being displaced several times before ending up in the government-controlled area.

Eswari came to know from other fishermen that her husband was picked up by the military for questioning and never heard from him again. She tried her best to find out what happened to him by appearing before countless government inquiries and repeatedly seeking police investigations.

Over a decade has passed since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, but thousands of relatives of enforced disappeared people are still taking to roads demanding the truth and justice for their loved ones.

“We don’t believe any domestic probe by the government will provide us with any satisfactory answers. That’s why we are demanding an international investigation where we hope that the truth can be established,” Eswari, a mother of three and leader of the Association for Relatives of Enforced Disappeared Persons in Mullaithivu told UCA News.

“These families have gone through immense difficulties during wartime and traumatic experiences thereafter"

Since 2015, relatives of the disappeared from the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have held continuous protests demanding answers from the authorities.

By the time the long-running struggle marked 2,000 days of continuous protests on Aug 12, at least 132 relatives, mostly elderly war survivors, had passed away without them knowing what had happened to their missing loved ones.

Father K. Jegathas, from Sinnaoorani, Batticaloa went with a group of aggrieved families to take part in one protest in Kilinochchi.

“These families have gone through immense difficulties during wartime and traumatic experiences thereafter. They need closure to move on,” Father Jegathas told UCA News.

Sri Lanka has one of the highest numbers of enforced disappearance cases, with a backlog of between 60,000 and 100,000 since the late 1980s, according to Amnesty International.

The authorities have also failed to protect witnesses and families seeking truth and justice, and to prosecute those suspected of criminal responsibility, the global human rights advocacy outfit said while expressing concern about a lack of confidence among affected families in the Office of Missing Persons, a state body that was set up to investigate and track missing persons.

Two Catholic priests were among the thousands of disappeared persons in Sri Lanka and their fate is still unknown.

“The last time I saw him was when we arranged to transport the injured to the hospital"

On Aug 20, 2006, Father Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, the parish priest of Allaipitty, a remote village in the northern islands, went missing along with his assistant Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas in a government-controlled area.

Days before, his St Philip Neri Church came under attack and the whole village was trapped amid heavy fighting between government forces and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Arulnesan Aruljehin from Allaipitty recalled how the young priest who was appointed to the parish just weeks before worked tirelessly to assist people in his flock in dire situations.

“Soon after the church was bombed, Father Brown stayed with displaced families to make sure they were provided with dry rations and water. He was there with us when we took the injured to the hospital on the mainland to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital,” he recalled.

Aruljehin himself was injured and learned of the priest’s disappearance in the hospital.

“The last time I saw him was when we arranged to transport the injured to the hospital,” Aruljehin, who lost three of his extended family members during that period, told UCA News.

The fate of Father G. A. Francis Joseph, former rector of St Patrick’s College, Jaffna, who was trapped along with thousands of civilians in a no-fire zone is still unknown.

"In their search for truth and justice, they too have often been victimized"

The LTTE cadres had sought the assistance of the Catholic priest to surrender to government forces while holding white flags. Successive governments denied any wrongdoing during this incident.

Marking the International Day of the Disappeared on Aug 30, relatives in the north and east staged protests reiterating their demand for justice and truth through an international probe.

Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, resident coordinator of the United Nations in Sri Lanka, says the uncertainty as to the fate of a loved one continues to be a painful reality that is still raw and fresh.

“They relentlessly ask for answers to the whereabouts of their loved ones. Without answers, they suffer every day, wavering between hope and despair. In their search for truth and justice, they too have often been victimized,” Singer said in a statement.

At the upcoming sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this month, Sri Lanka will be facing tough questions over its wartime accountability, rights abuses and reconciliation efforts.

“What we want is the truth, we don’t want a certificate for the missing or any compensation as the government proposes. Our struggle will continue for truth and justice and we hope the international community will help our cause too,” Eswari said.

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