who are sri lanka's disappeared

8/14/2019 Who Are Sri Lanka's Disappeared

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Who are Sri Lanka's disappeared?

Sri Lanka's civil war is officially over, but people are still being

"disappeared" - vanishing without a trace, often, allegedly, in the state's

unmarked "white vans"

!fter ra#, Sri Lanka has the highest number of enforced disappearances in

the world, the $nited %ations has said

&he latest report from the $%'s working group on enforced or involuntary

disappearances, set up in ()*, says that there are +, outstanding

cases of enforced disappearances, though the actual number of

disappeared could be much higher

&he ma.ority of cases date back to Sri Lanka's civil war between the
http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-disappeared-white-vans-missing-people-war-chogmhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.45_English.pdfhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.45_English.pdfhttp://www.channel4.com/media/images/Channel4/c4-news/2013/Nov/13/13_disappeared_r_w_LRG.jpghttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.45_English.pdfhttp://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.45_English.pdfhttp://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-disappeared-white-vans-missing-people-war-chogm


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government and the L&&/, commonly known as the &amil &igers, which

ended in 0**( 1owever, enforced disappearances in the country continue

to be reported

!mnesty nternationalsaid that during 0*0 there were reports of more

than 0* alleged enforced disappearances 2ictims included political

activists, business people and suspected criminals

White vans3n &hursday night, 4hannel 5 %ews will air a documentary, White 2an

Stories, which e6plores the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in Sri

Lanka and the fear it instils in the population

Leena 7animekalai, director of White 2ans, said there is "absolutely no

news" of people ever returning once they have been "disappeared"

&he families of the disappeared face the torture of "not knowing" what has

happened to their loved ones - and also further alleged harassment from

the state

8isappearances have been a feature of Sri Lankan life since the 9anatha

2imukthi :eramuna insurgency of the ()*s - when many young Sinhalese

men were allegedly abducted

&he practice continued during the Sri Lankan civil war, and has been

attributed to both government forces and the &amil &igers

&he Sri Lankan government consistently denies any allegations of war

crimes or human rights abuses

&he disappeared
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/http://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-videohttp://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-videohttp://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-white-vans-interview-leena-manimekalai-videohttps://www.amnesty.org.uk/http://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-videohttp://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-videohttp://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-white-vans-interview-leena-manimekalai-video


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Prageeth Eknaligoda

&he .ournalist and cartoonist

disappeared whilst going home from his

office on 05 9anuary 0** near Sri

Lanka's capital, 4olombo &he alleged

abduction took place two days before Sri

Lanka's presidential elections

/knaligoda worked for a website that

supported the opposition candidate to

:resident 7ahinda ;a.apaksa

Local residents reported seeing a white

van without number plates close to his

house around this time

Sivasooriyakumar Sanara.

! +-year-old &amil boy went missing after leaving home in the morning on

< 9une, 0*


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late at night for them to deal with the matter

&he family friend and Sanara.'s father #uestioned the man themselves= the

man described the boy as having a red scar on his ear and lip, .ust like

Sanara.

8espite having identified this man as a suspected abductor, the police have

not called him in for #uestioning and have failed to conduct any

investigation to date

Lalith Weeraraja and Kugan Muruganandan

Weerara.a and 7uruganandan were

allegedly arrested by members of the Sri

Lankan army on ( 8ecember 0*

Weerara.a was the coordinator of the

9ana !ragalaya>:eople's Struggle

movement in the northern city of 9affna,

and was an e6ecutive committee

member of We !re Sri Lankans, a

student-based organisation which works

to defend the rights of &amil people in Sri

Lanka

n the past, Weerara.a had been threatened several times by the army and

police in relation to his protests against enforced disappearances and illegal

detention, and had been taken into military custody in early 0* where he

was allegedly threatened and interrogated

;amasamy :rabaharan

! &amil businessman of ndian origin, :rabaharan was allegedly abducted

by seven men in civilian clothing, thought to be security forces agents, in


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@ebruary 0*0

1e was reported to have been grabbed around the neck by the men, who

were hiding at his home, and thrown into the back of a white van

t has been reported that at the time of his alleged abduction, :rabaharan

had filed a case against the police in the Supreme 4ourt of Sri Lanka for

alleged torture and unlawful arrest 1e had been detained by police

between 7ay 0**( and September 0* on suspicion of being a member of

the &amil &igers

2asanthamala :athmanathan

&he woman was allegedly arrested at a bank near 2avuniya, in Sri LankaAs

northern province, by agents of the feared 4riminal nvestigation

8epartment >48 of the police on 0 !ugust 0*0

Watch an e6clusive preview clip of White 2an Stories, below &he

documentary will be shown on &hursday night, at seven, on 5

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