Whither missing persons report?

by Manjula Fernando

The Paranagama Commission report on missing persons is unlikely to be presented at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, scheduled to get underway on September 14. An authoritative source said the report might not be considered at the sessions.

The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons was set up as an important segment of the domestic mechanism of accountability initiated by the former government. To fulfill international standards, three legal luminaries of international fame were also appointed to assist the Commissioners on international law.

Headed by Sir Desmond de Silva, a British lawyer of Sri Lankan origin and former UN war crimes prosecutor in Sierra Leone, the panel also comprised Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and David Crane, chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2002 to 2005.

A senior government official said the report on its new mandate, which covered complaints from the North and East areas, have already been completed and members of the Commission were waiting to hand it over to President Maithripala Sirisena.

An official at the Ministry of External Affairs said the fate of the report will be decided by the President, declining to comment whether it will be part of the Sri Lankan Government’s response to the UNHRC later this month.

Recently the Commission was given an investigative arm consisting of five retired police officers, overseen by a retired High Court judge, to facilitate an expanded mandate.

The Commission, which began sittings in 2013, has so far received a total of over 21,000 complaints of missing persons.