OHCHR – SLC’s Submission on Missing Persons

Submitted to:
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Purpose:
To inform the Report of the Secretary-General on Missing Persons pursuant to General Assembly resolution 79/173
Submitted by:
The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice
London, UK // 28 February 2025

Introduction

The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (SLC) is a non-partisan organisation advocating for accountability, rule of law and human rights in Sri Lanka. This submission responds to the Call for Inputs to inform the Secretary-General’s report on missing persons pursuant to General Assembly resolution 79/173.

Sri Lanka has one of the highest numbers of unresolved enforced disappearances in the world. Estimates range from 60,000 to 100,000 persons who disappeared during periods of political violence from the late 1980s through the end of the armed conflict in 2009. Victims come from all ethnic and religious communities: Sinhalese youth disappeared during the southern insurrection of the late 1980s, Tamil civilians during the civil war, and Muslim civilians in specific incidents in the east of the country.

Decades later, families continue to search for the truth. Although Sri Lanka has adopted certain legislative measures and established institutions to address disappearances, implementation has been weak. Exhumations have not led to meaningful identification of remains. Criminal accountability is almost non-existent. Families remain in legal and psychological limbo.

This submission focuses on:

• *forensic recovery and identification
• *criminal investigations
• *the legal status and support needs of families
• *Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law
• *the urgent need for an independent DNA database

This submission argues that the establishment of an independent national DNA database represents the most practical and achievable step Sri Lanka can take to advance large-scale identification and fulfil the right to truth for families of the disappeared.

Scale and Nature of the Problem

Enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka has been widespread and systematic across different periods and regions.

During the late 1980s, tens of thousands of Sinhalese youth disappeared amid counter-insurgency operations in the south of the country. Between 1983 and 2009, tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in the North and East were reported missing, including individuals last seen surrendering to the military in May 2009. Members of the Muslim community were also forcibly disappeared in particular incidents during the 1990s.

Over the past three decades, numerous mass graves have been discovered across the island, including in Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Matale and the Eastern Province. These discoveries demonstrate the multi-ethnic and island-wide nature of the problem.

However, the discovery of graves has not resulted in meaningful clarification of fate and whereabouts. In several major exhumations, hundreds of skeletal remains have been recovered. Yet identification processes have either stalled or failed entirely. For example, in the Mannar mass grave, hundreds of skeletal remains were exhumed without a comprehensive identification process being completed. In many cases, remains have stayed in storage for years without systematic DNA comparison or transparent reporting to families.

The pattern is consistent: excavation without identification, recovery without return, investigation without accountability.

Forensic Recovery and Identification Failures

One of the most serious gaps in Sri Lanka’s response concerns forensic identification.

Across multiple mass grave investigations over three decades, there has not been a single completed, systematic process in which remains have been comprehensively identified and returned to families on a significant scale. In some cases, more than 300 skeletons have been exhumed from a single site without any confirmed identifications linked to contemporary disappearances.

Several structural weaknesses contribute to this failure:

Lack of Systematic Ante-Mortem Data Collection

Effective identification requires comparison between biological samples from remains and DNA samples from relatives. In Sri Lanka, there has been no coordinated national effort to collect and centralise DNA samples from families of the disappeared.

Inadequate Forensic Infrastructure

There is no fully operational, centralised genetic database dedicated to missing persons. Forensic anthropology and DNA analysis capacity is limited. Chain-of-custody practices and long-term preservation protocols have been inconsistent.

Political and Institutional Interference

In some investigations, there have been concerns regarding transfers of judicial officers under whose supervision exhumations are being conducted, delays in executing court orders, and limited transparency. Such factors undermine confidence and continuity in complex forensic processes that require long-term technical consistency.

Lack of International Technical Engagement

Despite repeated calls by civil society and UN mechanisms for international forensic expertise and oversight, Sri Lanka has generally retained exclusive domestic control over exhumations (although in limited instances DNA samples have reportedly been sent abroad without resulting in confirmed identifications). While sovereignty is respected, the absence of international technical support has limited both capacity and credibility.

The cumulative result is that hundreds of remains have been exhumed, yet families have not received answers. The right to know the fate of disappeared relatives remains unrealised in practice.

Criminal Investigations and Accountability

The Call for Inputs seeks information regarding criminal investigations and prosecutions in cases of missing persons.

Sri Lanka enacted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act in 2018, criminalising enforced disappearance in domestic law. However, there have been no confirmed prosecutions filed under this law to date according to publicly available information.

Historically, prosecutions linked to disappearance-related cases in Sri Lanka have primarily proceeded under ordinary Penal Code offences — including abduction, kidnapping, wrongful confinement and murder — rather than as the distinct crime of enforced disappearance. Even in the limited number of cases that resulted in convictions, some outcomes were subsequently overturned on appeal or nullified through presidential pardons. In numerous mass grave cases, investigative efforts have remained narrowly focused on exhumation and recovery of remains, without progressing to the systematic identification and prosecution of perpetrators, including those who may bear command responsibility.

The lack of accountability has several consequences:

• *It weakens deterrence and preventive effect.
• *It reinforces distrust among affected communities.
• *It undermines the credibility of truth-seeking institutions.

Ending impunity is essential to preventing future disappearances and to fulfilling Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law.

The Office on Missing Persons and Trust Deficit

In 2016, Sri Lanka established the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). The OMP was mandated to trace missing persons, recommend reparations and refer cases for prosecution.

While the creation of the OMP was an important legislative step, its impact has been severely limited. Families frequently report insufficient communication, limited transparency regarding progress, and lack of meaningful results in tracing cases.

To date, there have been no widely acknowledged cases in which the fate or whereabouts of a disappeared person has been conclusively clarified through OMP processes. Despite receiving thousands of complaints, there have been no widely acknowledged identifications of remains resulting from OMP-facilitated processes, nor confirmed tracing of disappeared individuals.

This gap between institutional creation and substantive outcomes has contributed to a significant trust deficit. Many families perceive domestic mechanisms as ineffective or politically constrained.

Rebuilding trust requires demonstrable results, independence, and meaningful family participation.

Legal Status and Support for Families

The Call for Inputs specifically requests information on the legal status of missing persons and support for families, including social welfare, psychological support, financial matters and property rights.

Families of the disappeared in Sri Lanka often face prolonged legal uncertainty. Without confirmed death certificates or official recognition of fate, families may encounter difficulties in:

• *accessing inheritance
• *transferring property titles
• *claiming pensions
• *resolving marital status issues
• *accessing bank accounts

Some families have reported pressure from administrative authorities and related state institutions to accept death certificates in the absence of evidence regarding the fate of their relatives. For many families, accepting a death certificate without clarification of circumstances is perceived as abandoning the search for truth. This practice risks undermining the right to truth recognised under Article 24 of the Convention.

Psychosocial impacts are profound. Many families have lived for decades with unresolved grief, economic hardship and social stigma. Women, in particular, often become heads of households following disappearances and face economic vulnerability.

Support services remain limited and uneven. Comprehensive psycho-social programmes tailored to families of the disappeared are not consistently available across affected regions.

A victim-centred approach requires not only forensic identification but also sustained social, legal and psychological support. This remains insufficient in Sri Lanka.

Situation of Missing Children

Specific child-sensitive identification protocols and family tracing procedures remain insufficiently developed. Disappearances in Sri Lanka have included minors and in some mass grave sites, skeletal remains consistent with children have been reported. Beyond mass grave contexts, children of disappeared parents have grown up without clarity regarding their parent’s fate.

The disappearance of a parent affects children’s legal documentation, access to benefits, education stability and psychological well-being. Intergenerational trauma remains a concern. Preventive measures must include safeguards against arbitrary detention, improved documentation of arrests and custody, and strict adherence to due process guarantees to prevent future disappearances, particularly of minors.

Sri Lanka’s International Legal Obligations

Sri Lanka acceded to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) in 2016.

Under Article 24, victims have the right to know the truth regarding the fate of disappeared persons. States are obligated to search for, locate and, in the event of death, identify and return remains.

Article 15 requires States Parties to cooperate with one another to assist victims and to search for, locate, exhume and identify disappeared persons.

Sri Lanka has enacted domestic legislation reflecting these obligations. However, implementation remains insufficient in practice.

Compliance requires:

• *active and systematic search efforts
• *effective forensic identification mechanisms
• *protection of families
• *accountability for perpetrators
• *meaningful international cooperation

Significant gaps remain in Sri Lanka’s implementation of these obligations.

Preventive safeguards remain uneven. Strengthened arrest documentation, custody registers, judicial oversight of detention, and early warning mechanisms are essential to reduce the risk of future disappearances. Systematic identification of past cases through a DNA-led mechanism would also contribute to prevention by reinforcing accountability and deterrence.

Proposal: Establishment of an Independent National DNA Database

One practical and non-confrontational measure that could significantly improve identification outcomes is the establishment of an independent national DNA database dedicated to missing persons. The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice has set out a detailed technical framework for such a mechanism in its 2026 Concept Paper, Towards a National DNA Bank for Sri Lanka’s Disappeared.

Rationale

Hundreds of skeletal remains have been exhumed without systematic genetic comparison to relatives. Without a centralised database, identification is fragmented and slow.

International experience demonstrates that DNA-led identification programmes can achieve high success rates even decades after conflict, including in the Western Balkans and other post-conflict contexts. The International Commission on Missing Persons has successfully implemented such systems in multiple post-conflict contexts.

Core Principles

To be credible and effective, a Sri Lankan DNA database must meet the following criteria:

I. Independence

The database should be housed in an independent statutory body or neutral institution with safeguards against political or security-sector interference. International technical partnership or oversight should be considered.

II. Voluntary Participation

Family members must provide DNA samples voluntarily, based on informed consent.

III. Data Protection

Strong legal protections must ensure that genetic data is encrypted, anonymised and used exclusively for identification purposes. It must not be accessible for general law enforcement or surveillance.

IV. Inclusivity

The database should be open to families of disappeared persons from all communities and time periods.

V. Transparency and Oversight

An advisory board including representatives of families, civil society and forensic experts should oversee governance and procedures.

Humanitarian Focus

A DNA database can be framed as a humanitarian initiative focused on dignified return of remains rather than immediate criminal attribution. This may facilitate political acceptance while preserving forensic evidence for future accountability processes.

The creation of such a mechanism would directly advance implementation of Article 24 of ICPPED and demonstrate concrete progress for inclusion in the Secretary-General’s report.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Sri Lanka’s missing persons crisis remains unresolved decades after the height of enforced disappearances. Legislative steps have been taken, but implementation gaps persist, particularly in forensic identification and accountability.

The establishment of an independent national DNA database represents a practical and achievable step that could significantly advance clarification of fate and whereabouts, restore dignity to victims and families, and demonstrate compliance with international obligations.

Without concrete progress in identification and accountability, the humanitarian and legal consequences of disappearance will continue to affect families across generations. Meaningful action now would contribute to reconciliation, rule of law and prevention of recurrence.

In light of the above, we respectfully recommend:

I. Adopt a National Forensic Policy on Mass Graves

Establish clear procedures consistent with international standards for excavation, preservation, identification and return of remains, including secure storage and chain-of-custody protocols.

II. Establish an Independent National DNA Database

Create, through legislation, a dedicated and independent genetic database for missing persons with international technical support and strong data protection safeguards.

III. Enhance Victim Participation

Ensure families have observer status, legal representation and regular access to information in all exhumation and identification processes.

IV. Strengthen Criminal Accountability

Advance impartial investigations under the 2018 enforced disappearance law, including investigation of obstruction of past mass grave inquiries.

V. Address Legal and Social Needs of Families

Reform administrative processes to address inheritance, property, pension and civil status issues without requiring families to forfeit their right to truth. Expand psychosocial support programmes.

VI. Strengthen International Cooperation

Invite technical assistance from UN mechanisms and international forensic institutions to improve capacity and confidence in investigations.