Thread by @francesharris0n

#srilanka told UN in Geneva the Office on Missing Persons .@ompsrilanka is "inquiring" -
why hasn't it summoned the 58 Div commander from May 2009 @SilvaShavendra to ask why HUNDREDS of people inclu 29 babies & kids disappeared in his custody - named here disappearance.itjpsl.com/#lang=english

@ompsrilanka @SilvaShavendra Meanwhile read .@JDSLanka story disappearance.itjpsl.com/#lang=english from year ago on how @ompsrilanka has been asking families for TWENTY documents as part of this "inquiry" process & pushing DEATH certificates.

@ompsrilanka @SilvaShavendra @JDSLanka & look what happened to the thousands of families of the disappeared from 1989 period - itjpsl.com/reports/gotaba… - who testified to presidential commissions & never got truth let alone justice.

Link to above mentioned JDS story jdslanka.org/index.php/news…

Actually perhaps u could all help me list the various bodies that were supposed to look at disappearance in #srilanka #lka
.@JDSLanka @rukitweets @TamilGuardian @PEARL_Action @SLcampaign and others.

@JDSLanka @rukitweets @TamilGuardian @PEARL_Action @SLcampaign 2007: The Commission to Investigate Killings, Disappearances, Abductions and Unidentified Dead Bodies (Mahanama Tilakaratne).
WIKILEAKS “these efforts so far appear aimed more at improving #lka #srilanka image abroad and have yet to produce concrete improvements”. 07COLOMBO386_a

@JDSLanka @rukitweets @TamilGuardian @PEARL_Action @SLcampaign November 2006, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) established to observe and assist The Commission of Inquiry Appointed to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Violations of Human Rights.
MARCH 2007 disbanded.

@JDSLanka @rukitweets @TamilGuardian @PEARL_Action @SLcampaign In 2007, the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances stated that it transmitted more cases of “disappearances” as urgent appeals to the Sri Lankan Government in 2006 than to any other country in the world. A/HRC/10/9, para 366.

March 2008 .@hrw said the #SriLankan government was responsible for widespread abductions & “disappearances” that amounted to a national crisis - spoke of "the systemic impunity enjoyed by members of the security forces and pro-government armed groups. hrw.org/news/2008/03/0…

In 2011 the UN Committee Against Torture also said it was concerned that 475 new cases of enforced disappearance during the period 2006-2010 were transmitted by WGEID to #lka gvt allegedly involving police and military perps. CAR/C?LKA/CO/3-4)

In 2012, Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission expressed its “grave concern” (4.318) about the number of alleged disappearances of LTTE cadres who had surrendered to the #SriLanka Army at the end of the war& reminded the Government of its duty to investigate (4.319).

14 May 2008 at Universal Periodic Review then AG said of 355 alleged disappearances submitted to the government, initial investigations revealed 12 ppl had left the country, 17 were with their families, & 11 had "eloped". He was unable to account for the remaining 315 cases.

This is what OISL had to say about that 2006 commission on disappearances - underplayed role of security forces and chair reportedly blamed some invisible hand!

And what OISL says about another commission set up in 2007 - it recommended prosecuting those who complained!

So (cynically)maybe we are making some "progress" - now families are blamed for not noting down number plates of buses that took their loved ones away on 18 May 2009.

2013 The Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons - 13,378 complaints - identified 10 cases with “prima facie evidence” against security forces named & recommended domestic legal action. And 59 more cases for in-depth investigation.

I mean after all this (& above list not complete by any means) are we still at what the #srilanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry described to Geneva .@UNHumanRights & @UN_HRC as "the inquiry and verification" stage?!

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC itjpsl.com/assets/ITJP_19…

And weren't all these names INQUIRED & VERIFIED by a Presidential commission - the JVP era disappearances - these from Matale where Gotabaya Rajapaksa served.

.@iqbals37 was part of the process.

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 Via .@ambikasat - from A LEGACY TO REMEMBER - #SRILANKA'S COMMISSIONS - yet further inquiries into enforced disappearance by #lka government - starting in 1991 - THIRTY YEARS AGO!

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat Then again in 1992 into "involuntary removals" which is a euphemistic term for abduction.

Noting - There are no publicly accessible reports of the Premadasa or Wijetunga Commissions.

Is this perhaps a pattern!

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat Then we get to the 4 commission that investigated JVP era disappearances - which commented on a generalised practice of subversion of justice - this from the southern Zone.

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat The commission looking at North and East found 90% of "removals" were ascribed to army, navy, Air Force and police. It named some alleged perps but what happened to them?

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat Then there's this 1996 MOD inquiry.
Received 765 cases.
25 cases had sufficient grounds to pursue alleged offenders.
Was anyone convicted?

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat 2002- THE COMMITTEE ON DISAPPEARANCES IN THE JAFFNA REGION, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA -including lists of persons with certificates confirming disappearance.

281 cases but "the complaints referred .. constitute only a minor fraction of the total number"

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat This one said - Other practices included: the blindfolding of victims, night arrests by masked men, blatant disclaiming of responsibility even when numerous witnesses identified the responsible party, and denials to family members of the fact of arrest by army personnel.

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat We see as far back as 1997 there was discussion of a proposed independent prosecutor for #srianka to take forward the inquiries by the umpteen commissions.

Today it still doesn't exist. Just the OMP which hasn't done work even as detailed as that of the past commissions.

@UNHumanRights @UN_HRC @iqbals37 @ambikasat And 1997 a recommendation that the Attorney General should cease to represent persons charged with violating people's fundamental rights.

& a "vigorous prosecution those responsible for disappearances"!