Thousands of people have disappeared in Sri Lanka since the 1980s. A 1999 study by the United Nations found that Sri Lanka had the second highest number of disappearances in the world and that 12,000 Sri Lankans had disappeared after being detained by the Sri Lankan security forces.[1] A few years earlier the Sri Lankan government had estimated that 17,000 people had disappeared.[1] In 2003 the Red Cross stated that it had received 20,000 complaints of disappearances during the Sri Lankan Civil War of which 9,000 had been resolved but the remaining 11,000 were still being investigated.[2]
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Asian Human Rights Commission have documented many of the disappearances and attributed them to the Sri Lankan security forces, pro-government paramilitary groups and Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups.[3][4]
Background[]
Sri Lanka has a history of disappearances, both during the Sri Lankan Civil War and the 1980s JVP insurrection. Commissions have documented how thousands of people have been kidnapped by armed men and disappeared without a trace.[5] The victims largely belong to the minority Sri Lankan Tamil community and thousands of Sinhalese youths from the Sinhalese community during the JVP insurgency.[6] Tens of thousands of people are missing, presumed executed.
White vans[]
Many Tamil nationalists claim there was a resurgence of abductions in 2005 after the failure of Norwegian mediated peace process. The victims of the abductions were predominantly Sri Lankan Tamils living in Jaffna and the capital Colombo.[7][8][9] A notable feature in the abductions is the use of white vans without number plates. White van abductions are a part of life in Jaffna and the abductions are carried with impunity even during curfew hours.[9][10]
See also[]
- Allegations of State terrorism by Sri Lanka
- Human rights in Sri Lanka
- War crimes in Sri Lanka
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Sri Lanka's disappeared thousands". 28 March 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/306447.stm.
- ↑ "Hope for Sri Lanka's disappeared". 19 February 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2781551.stm.
- ↑ "ASA 37/024/1997 Government’s response to widespread "disappearances" in Jaffna". Amnesty International. 27 November 1997. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370241997?open&of=ENG-LKA.
- ↑ "Sri Lanka: ‘Disappearances’ by Security Forces a National Crisis". Human Rights Watch. 6 March 2008. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/03/05/sri-lanka-disappearances-security-forces-national-crisis.
- ↑ SRI LANKA: White vans without number plates; the symbol of disappearances reappear
- ↑ Specter of abductions returns to Sri Lanka
- ↑ "Sri Lanka rapped over 'disappeared'". BBC. 2008-03-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7243595.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-07. "Sri Lanka's government is one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances, US-based pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. An HRW report accuses security forces and pro-government militias of abducting and "disappearing" hundreds of people - mostly Tamils - since 2006."
- ↑ "Fears grow over Tamil abductions". BBC. 2006-09-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5382582.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-07. "The image of the "white van" invokes memories of the "era of terror" in the late 1980s when death squads abducted and killed thousands of Sinhala youth in the south of the country. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says the "white van culture" is now re-appearing in Colombo to threaten the Tamil community."
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 ""Disappearances" on rise in Sri Lanka's dirty war". The Boston Globe. 2006-05-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20090202202141/http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/09/14/disappearances_on_rise_in_sri_lankas_dirty_war/. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ↑ BBC White van 'terrorises' Jaffna
External links[]
- Black, Laura (1999). "Forced Disappearances in Sri Lanka Constitute a Crime Against Humanity". http://www.disappearances.org/news/mainfile.php/articles_srilanka/9/.
- White Van Abduction captured in Video
- Lanka News White Van Death Squad exposed
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The original article can be found at Enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and the edit history here.