Sri Lanka has been urged to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance..!!!

Lanka urged to sign
December 26, 2010, 9:22 pm


By Easwaran Rutnam



Sri Lanka has been urged to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which came into force on Wednesday.



The Secretariat of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in an email to News Now.lk said that last year some 100 cases of enforced disappearances were reported in Sri Lanka, an issue which had been brought to the attention of the government.



Asked by News Now.lk if there were any reports of disappearances this year the WGEID Secretariat said that the activities carried out by the Working Group during 2010 are confidential until its 2010 report is published, most probably in January.



The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance came into force yesterday after 21 States ratified it. Enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.



The WGEID Secretariat, quoting the 2009 report, said that the Government of Sri Lanka had communicated extensively with the Working Group but many cases remain outstanding and therefore, taking into consideration the change of circumstances in Sri Lanka, the Working Group would like to reiterate its request to conduct a mission to Sri Lanka as soon as possible.



States that ratify the Convention commit themselves to conduct investigations to locate the disappeared person, to prosecute those responsible and to ensure reparations for survivors and their families. How States abide by their obligations under the Convention will be monitored by a panel, to be known as the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. This independent and impartial treaty body will monitor implementation of the Convention and can receive complaints from or on behalf of victims when the national authorities fail to fulfill their obligations.

ISLAND.LK