Civil Scoiety says, ‘Justice cannot be compromised’

Civil Society Activists have expressed serious concerns’ regarding the Sri Lankan government’s proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP), and urged for ‘substantial international involvement and stressed that justice cannot be compromised.The signatories included members of southern civil society and Tamil civil society from the North-East. They have in their letter stated:

“We reject the idea that seeking truth may be separated from victim families’ right to justice, and insist that the pursuit of these two rights be recognized as complementary. In this regard, a model that excludes or insulates the OMP from sharing information gathered during tracing investigations with a criminal investigative process would be unacceptable. Information available to the OMP must be made available to other transitional justice mechanisms, with appropriate safeguards in the interests of protection of witnesses or victim families.

We strongly suggest that the Government rename the proposed Office as ‘Office of Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons’, so as to reflect accurately the mandate of the body.

We are also concerned about, and would like to draw the Government’s attention to continuing incidents of harassment and intimidation of victim families and activists that are not helpful in creating a conducive environment for public consultations or operationalization of the OMP mechanism. The continued use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the lack of due process in carrying out arrests and resuming the use of white vans in the past month have heightened the sense of fear and insecurity among affected people.”