People for Equality and Relief in Lanka

Sri Lanka: An Invisible History

Take Action to Stop Disappearances in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, a disappearance occurs every 5 hours. While the statistic may appear shocking, especially as it rates higher than countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan in the years 2006-2007, disappearances in this South Asian island are a manifestation of a brutal and sanctioned counter-insurgency campaign that has plagued the country at various times since the 1970s. Today the UN Working Group on Disappearances reports that Sri Lanka has the highest number of disappearances in the world.

The overwhelming majority of these victims belong to the Tamil community who, although they make up only 16% of the population in Sri Lanka, constitute at least 84% of the disappearances. This number, however, may actually be higher considering that many cases go unreported for fear of reprisal.

In the current culture of impunity there is little respite for those wishing to escape the continued threat of vulnerability. In the north, an area characterized by high security zones (HSZ) and strict military control, disappearances are the highest in the country. Likewise in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and for others who have sought refuge in predominantly Sinhalese areas, Tamils are routinely targeted during security round ups and check points. Women also are not spared as the U.S. Department of State reports that "the wives of men who have "disappeared" and who suffer economic deprivation as a result often fall prey to sexual exploitation by paramilitaries and members of the security forces."

While the bulk of these cases implicate complicity by Government security forces and allied paramilitary groups, there has been an overall failure to investigate and hold perpetrators responsible for these crimes. The International Crisis Group reports that "none of the many ad hoc commissions of inquiry appointed by the President to look into disappearances…have made any headway against impunity."

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Missing Sons

My son, Baheerathan Sivarasa, was a third year university student at Jaffna who went missing. The Army came and kidnapped him... They say they didn't take him, but they did ...It's because they want to wipe out the Tamil race. He only had had one more year in university. He was going to take care of us. Life is very difficult so we needed him to study and then earn a salary for us. He helped at home with everything, taking care of the crops and plants. He never caused any problems, he would always come home quietly and say he had only one more year to study and then he'd be helping to put food on our table...

He studied with fear, saying there are always kidnappings in Jaffna and that they keep asking us questions and we always say we don't know...

-Raththinavathi Sivarasa, 48 years