Sri Lanka marks International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances
Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is not restricted to a specific region of the world.
On Tuesday August 30, the world celebrated the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, which was created to draw attention to the fate of individuals imprisoned at places and under poor conditions, unknown to their relatives and/or legal representatives.
The impulse for the day came from the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared, a non-governmental organisation founded in 1981 in Costa Rica as an association of local and regional groups actively working against secret imprisonment, forced disappearances and abduction in a number of Latin-American countries.
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance as resolution 47/133 on December 18, 1992.
Day marked in Sri Lanka
Several programmes were launched in the country, one of them being a programme organized by the Collective of the Families of the Missing took place at the Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo.
The event welcomed the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons.
“… My son was taken away on the 3rd of June 2009 in a white van. For eight years, I have been waiting for my son …” said a mother
“… From the 12th of June to the 12th of July 1989, the SLTB was on strike and my husband went to work after the strike was called off. But, he did not return home. I am waiting to know what happened to him …” said a wife
“… My son was abducted at the junction. We went everywhere in search of him. I urge that we are given the details of my son …” said a mother.
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