Disappearances in Sri Lanka: UN Urged to Authorize International Accountability Mechanism
Families of disappeared
As the world marks the day of the disappeared on August 30th, Tamils from the island of Sri Lanka hope that an international accountability mechanism for the mass killing and disappearances of Tamils will be authorized by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Thousands of Tamils have been disappeared after being abducted by “white vans,” arrests under the PTA laws and other means by the Sri Lankan security forces before, during and since the war. The families are searching for their loved ones year after year. These Tamils were singled out for death purely for their ethnic identity.
No one have been brought to justice for these disappearances, while many of those suspected of being behind the disappearances have been promoted or offered senior government positions, including diplomatic postings around the world.
The families friends of the persons who have disappeared experience extreme mental anguish not knowing whether their sons or daughters, mothers or fathers are still alive. If alive, they do not know where they are being held or how they are being treated. They put themselves in danger of revenge if they protest too much. It is women who have led the struggle to find out what has happened to their loved ones since they disappeared. They put themselves in danger of intimidation, persecution and violence.
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance came into effect in 2010. It aims to prevent enforced disappearances, uncover the truth when they do happen, and make sure survivors and victims’ families receive justice and reparation. The Convention is one of strongest human rights treaties ever adopted by the UN.
The TGTE requests the people at large to urge their respective governments to work in concert with other countries through the United Nations to account for those who have disappeared and to mete out remedial justice to the victims.
Mr. Manikavasagar
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
+33-699-33-2705 or + 44 - 7896 - 588-369
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