COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved setting up an office to learn the fate of several thousands of people who went missing during the civil war that ended seven years ago, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The statement from Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the “need to set up such an office is particularly acute as Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the entire world” due to an uprising in the country’s southern region and the three decades civil war in the north and east.
The office will come into effect when the necessary laws are passed by the Parliament and the measure will help families discover the fate of their loved ones and the circumstances under which they went missing, the ministry said.
The proposed office will have a victim and witness protection unit and will also provide families access to administrative, legal and psychosocial support.
Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009 after the government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels who fought to create a separate state for the ethnic minority Tamils.
The statement from Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the “need to set up such an office is particularly acute as Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the entire world” due to an uprising in the country’s southern region and the three decades civil war in the north and east.
The office will come into effect when the necessary laws are passed by the Parliament and the measure will help families discover the fate of their loved ones and the circumstances under which they went missing, the ministry said.
The proposed office will have a victim and witness protection unit and will also provide families access to administrative, legal and psychosocial support.
Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009 after the government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels who fought to create a separate state for the ethnic minority Tamils.
