Families of disappeared lose out on relief payments

By Sarasi Wijeratne

Nearly Rs. 1 billion earmarked for families of the disappeared in the Government’s Budget for 2025 have not been paid, with risk of the cash being returned to the Treasury. 

Around 5,000 families would have benefitted from a temporary allowance, had the payment been made. The Government in 2022 allocated Rs. 200,000 to each family. 

“The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has to get Cabinet approval to carry out enquiries which will confirm families’ eligibility to receive the allowance before it is paid,” said Families of the Disappeared Convenor Brito Fernando. “It was only in October of last year that the OMP got Cabinet approval for this, leaving it with hardly any time to conduct enquiries.” 

According to the Office of Reparations, which makes the payment to the families on the recommendation of the OMP, it received 563 recommendations last year, but Fernando claims these are from previous years. “We also know that the Justice Ministry did not want to touch the money as they thought it was compensation money for others like ex-MPs who were affected by the Aragalaya.” 

In addition to delayed Cabinet approval, the work of the OMP is hamstrung further because of staffing issues. The OMP needs a cadre of 250 for its work but it had only 29 last year. Although the Government has approved an increase in number to 69, recruitment to fill the vacancies is still pending. 

“The Government must issue a statement asking these families to come forward and register for the allowance,” insisted Fernando. “There have been many Presidential Commissions in the past that have made recommendations and successive Governments have failed to deliver on their promises to these families. They are disillusioned by all the broken promises.” 

He expressed the desperation these families feel, drawing a parallel between them and how easy it is for a victim of a road traffic accident or an elephant attack to get compensation. “Some of these families tell me they will jump off a travelling bus and get injured to get some money.”

Among the victims of those who disappeared are Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) sympathisers and Fernando says their families expect this Government especially, which has its roots with the JVP, to help them. “This Government’s position is that these families will not be eligible for the Rs. 200,000 if they got any assistance for their loss during the State terror of the late 1980s. Except for a death certificate and a pittance worth of compensation, which was paid only in 1996, for 35 long years, the families in the South have got nothing in terms of truth, justice, or compensation”. 

Over the years, there has been uncertainty about how much and what payments these families will receive. 

A Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons appointed in 1994 recommended that the family of a married person who was forcibly disappeared should receive Rs. 50,000, a young person should receive Rs. 25,000, and a student should get Rs. 15,000. 

In March 2022, a Cabinet proposal to pay Rs. 100,000 to a family as full and final settlement was met with a storm of objections by civil society organisations, which recommended that the payment should be defined as temporary relief. In 2022, the sum of Rs. 100, 000 was increased to Rs. 200, 000 for a family. 

While the current Government has said it is looking at a “far better way to compensate families” with not only a one-off monetary payment but a package which will include housing, education, livelihood support, and psychological support, it has also said it does not want to duplicate payments. 

Fernando despaired at the Government’s inaction towards the families. “We sent the Justice Minister a letter in August last year highlighting the same concerns but have not received a reply yet even though we specifically asked for one.”

The allocation for the families in the Budget for 2026 is Rs. 300 million, which is enough to pay only 1,500 families. “We asked the Government for Rs. 2000 million so that 10, 000 families can benefit, but there is a huge shortfall,” said Fernando. He asserted that the annual allocation for these families is never fully used. 

The OMP has received 19,000 complaints of disappearances going back to 1971. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry received 30,000 to 32,000 complaints since 1 January 1988. About 4,000 families have received some form of monetary compensation.