Last year, SLC’s blog “A New Era?” asked whether President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his party’s electoral victory could break Sri Lanka’s historical pattern of impunity over enforced disappearances. As the world observes another UN International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the hope sparked by 2024’s political shift remains unfulfilled. Families, from both North and South of the country, continue to bear the weight of silence and unanswered questions.

Enforced disappearances have occurred throughout Sri Lanka’s history. In the late 1980s, during the suppression of the JVP uprising, tens of thousands of Sinhalese youths were abducted by death squads linked to the state. In the North and East, the protracted civil war between the government and the LTTE left tens of thousands of Tamil civilians missing, including many who were last seen surrendering to the military in the closing days of the conflict in 2009. Sri Lanka’s Muslim victims of enforced disappearance have often been overlooked. A chilling example is the Kurukkalmadam massacre in July 1990, where at least 150 civilians, many Hajj pilgrims, were abducted (suspected by the LTTE) and thought to be tortured, killed and buried in a mass grave. This week, a landmark judgement was made to excavate the mass grave to international standards. While SLC are pleased to see this progress, we are concerned at the failure of the Attorney General’s office to appear when the order was made.

Overall, Sri Lanka ranks second globally for enforced disappearances, behind only Iraq, with estimates ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 people missing. The scale is staggering, yet successive governments have consistently failed to deliver truth or justice.

The creation of the Office on Missing Persons in 2016 was presented as a turning point. It was supposed to be an independent institution that could trace the missing, identify remains and recommend prosecutions where appropriate. In reality, it has been ineffective due to a lack of political will and resources, losing the trust offamilies it is meant to serve. That mistrust has only deepened over the past year despite President Dissanayake’s pledges, the OMP remains largely symbolic, with minimal progress for cases raised by families and there has been little transparency in how investigations are conducted. Public updates are rare, and, in many instances, families are not even informed when remains are exhumed or identified.

One of the most urgent examples of this institutional failure is the handling of the Chemmani mass grave on the outskirts of Jaffna. This site has long been associated with allegations of war crimes and in May 2025, further excavations revealed dozens of skeletons, including those of babies younger than 10 months old. Rather than seizing this moment to build public trust, the government has lacked action. It has been rare for DNA samples to be taken from possible relatives to match profiles with the exhumed remains. Conducted with independence, robust privacy protections and technical input from credible forensic experts, a DNA database could identify victims from sites like Chemmani, enable dignified burials and preserve evidence for future accountability. Experiences from other post-conflict contexts show it is both technically feasible and deeply meaningful but this is yet to occur in Sri Lanka.

In the meantime, those who continue to search for the truth face constant harassment, from surveillance and intimidation at protests, to bureaucratic obstruction when seeking information from state institutions. This climate of fear reinforces the need for independent, victim-centred mechanisms that protect participants while delivering results.

The government must act now to end decades of delay and denial and:

– Provide reparations and support services including psychological counselling, financial aid and legal assistance to families of the disappeared.

–Adopt a transparent national exhumation policy immediately, with dedicated funding, clear procedures aligned with international forensic standards and full participation of victims’ families.

–Establish and maintain a national DNA bank which is governed independently, with encrypted and anonymised records, strong consent protocols and with the sole  purpose of matching remains to relatives.

–Launch prompt and independent criminal investigations into enforced disappearances, holding security forces and state officials accountable regardless of rank.

–Ensure full cooperation with the OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project and strengthen the Office on Missing Persons by making it fully independent, adequately resourced and free from political interference.

–Commit to regular, transparent public reporting on progress toward truth, justice and accountability, engaging families of the disappeared and civil society throughout.

In our blog last year, we described 2025 as a rare opportunity for Sri Lanka to break with its past. Every day that passes without action compounds the suffering of families. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the message from families of the disappeared across Sri Lanka is clear: they will not give up. They will keep demanding answers, however long it takes. And with the right tools, from transparent justice processes, including exhumations and an independent DNA bank, the government can and must bring the truth to those who have been denied it for far too long.