The United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) has issued a stark assessment of Sri Lanka’s handling of enforced disappearances, citing serious gaps in investigations, accountability, and forensic capacity. The findings were released today following the Committee’s review of Sri Lanka, alongside Benin and Montenegro, during its latest session in Geneva.
According to the CED, Sri Lanka has made “limited progress” in clarifying the fate and whereabouts of thousands who went missing, particularly during the country’s decades-long armed conflict. The Committee noted that the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has traced only 23 individuals out of 16,966 reported cases, underscoring what it called an “alarming lack of progress” in delivering truth and justice to families of the disappeared.
The Committee further expressed deep concern over the persistent impunity surrounding enforced disappearances. It pointed to the absence of prosecutions for alleged perpetrators and urged Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to establish an independent Public Prosecutor’s Office and include war crimes and crimes against humanity in its domestic legislation.
A particularly distressing aspect of the Committee’s findings was the discovery of at least seventeen mass graves across the island. The UN body criticized the limited forensic capacity of Sri Lankan authorities, as well as the lack of a centralized ante-mortem and post-mortem database and national genetic registry—all of which hinder proper identification and dignified return of remains to families. The CED called on Sri Lanka to develop a comprehensive national strategy for the search, excavation, and investigation of mass burial sites, while ensuring the preservation of evidence and the chain of custody of human remains.
The Committee urged Colombo to consolidate a comprehensive and updated register of all disappearance cases, strengthen the OMP’s investigative powers, and guarantee accountability for all registered cases. It also emphasized the urgent need to build forensic expertise and coordination among national institutions to support the identification of victims and the pursuit of justice.
While recognizing the gravity of Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation challenges, the Committee stressed that enforced disappearances are not abstract statistics but “human beings torn from their families, their communities and life in society.”
The findings form part of the CED’s broader review of State compliance with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Similar concerns were raised about Benin and Montenegro, though the Committee placed particular emphasis on Sri Lanka’s need for urgent institutional, legal, and investigative reforms to end decades of impunity and bring closure to thousands of grieving families.
