Sri Lankan Tamil families seek justice for forcibly disappeared kin

Scores of Tamil families in Sri Lanka's north and east, whose loved ones vanished during the long separatist war, are preparing to hold a conference in Jaffna on August 30, coinciding with the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The gathering, organised by the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared in the North and East, will see relatives describe their agonising experiences. Foreign diplomats and human rights activists have been invited.

One of the grieving mothers, Leeladevi Anandanataraja, 73, told The Federal that her son Anuraj, an LTTE fighter, surrendered in 2009 but was taken away by the military and never seen again. She said the government is offering death certificates and compensation through its Office of Missing Persons, but the families want their children back, not money. Amnesty International estimates total disappearances since the 1980s at between 60,000 and 1 lakh.

Sri Lanka has the second-highest number of forcible disappearances globally after Iraq, according to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The Office of Missing Persons database has over 23,000 cases linked to the civil war and JVP insurrections. The August 30 conference aims to press for answers and justice.