Still waiting for answers

Saturday, 14 March 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The story of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, told by victims and activists flying into the Palais des Nations, keeps the country on the human rights map at this month’s Human Rights Council session in Geneva Sri Lanka’s disappearances story reverberated inside and outside the halls of the United Nations in Geneva this week, even as the country faced the quietest March session of the Human Rights Council in years. A daylight vigil organised by Amnesty International brought Sri Lankan victim families and activists together outside the UN yesterday (12) in solidarity with thousands of families in the island whose loved ones remain missing. ‘Still Waiting for the Truth,’ Amnesty International titled the vigil, which was held at 1 p.m. Geneva time, under the famous monument of the broken chair outside the UN building. “That Prageeth remains alive – this is my belief. This is my religion,” Sandhya Ekneligoda told Daily FT on the square in front of the Palais des Nations, which houses the UN. Holding up a placard about Prageeth and clad in her customary white sari on a chilly day, Ekneligoda was joined by renowned Argentine Human Rights Activist and leader of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo movement, Estela Barnes de Carlotto at the vigil. The missing journalist’s wife has been lobbying for the truth about Prageeth’s disappearance at the UN since 2011. “Enforced disappearance is the world’s most brutal crime. Victims grieve for their loved ones forever,” Ekneligoda said. Now an advocate for families of missing people globally, Ekneligoda said she hoped she could join hands with Carlotto to end enforced disappearances all over the world. Siththi Yameena, whose son Hassan went missing from Kottawa, was also in Geneva to participate in the vigil.

A chilling message Three colourful cotton saris fluttered in the wind, but carried a chilling message from Sri Lanka’s north and east. Painted by mothers of missing children in the former conflict zone, each sari featured the names of missing people in Tamil script, together with the date of their disappearance and in some cases, their abductors, in some cases Government forces and in others, the LTTE. Sri Lankan human rights activists, including Dr. Nimalka Fernando, Ruki Fernando and Bhavani Fonseka joined Amnesty International staff and supporters to hold the saris up on display. Dr. Fernando, who has been an activist against disappearances for several decades, said seeing and listening to the agony of women searching for their missing loved ones was “agony”. “We have seen this since 1989 and I have come here in 1989, it is difficult to keep raising these issues time and again because in the final analysis it’s a question about the country, about its people and its political leaders.” Dr. Fernando said that historically Sri Lankan politicians have come to power and used disappearances to intensify militarisation or increase State power. “All political leaders have used disappearances as a tool to subjugate communities and suppress freedom of expression and freedom of thinking. The time has come to put an end to that,” she told the Daily FT outside the UN. On the human rights map While Sri Lanka remained formally off the agenda at the UN Human Rights Council 28th Session, a series of side events at the Palais Des Nations in Geneva kept the country on the human rights map this week. “The Sri Lankan Government must ratify the UN convention on Enforced Disappearances and the country’s Penal Code must recognise disappearance as a crime,” Bhavani Fonseka, a senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives said at an event on disappearances in Sri Lanka and Argentina on the sidelines of the UNHRC 28th session on Wednesday (11). Sri Lanka was the second biggest caseload before the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances with 5,000 files, Fonseka who was a panellist on the session said. She said successive commissions set up to probe disappearances have put forward important recommendations to the state that have never been implemented. “In 1994 the recommendation was made that a special independent prosecutor’s office be set up to deal with disappearances,” Fonseka noted. The issue of disappearances remains very much alive in Sri Lanka, Fonseka emphasised. “In the past two months we have seen protests across the north and east. Families are coming out to the streets to say ‘we need to know the truth, what you’re doing is not enough,’” she explained. “Time erases the truth” Advisor and Activist for INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre, Ruki Fernando, who was also a panellist at the session, said families of the disappeared faced serious threats and intimidation by the military and the police for participating in demonstrations calling for the return of their loved ones. During his presentation, Fernando said that families of missing people had exhausted all legal avenues to find out the truth about their loved ones, both at home and abroad. “These families have gone everywhere they can – locally and internationally – so the question for them now is where else can they go, who else can they tell and for how much longer?” Sandhya Ekneligoda told the Amnesty International side event that victims had been saddened by the deferment of the UN investigation report on Sri Lanka. “But we will bear it, if it means we will eventually get justice,” Ekneligoda said. “As victims, the most important thing for us is time,” said the missing scribe’s wife. “Time erases the truth.”