UN: Sri Lanka second after Iraq for disappearances

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 10:00

UN: Sri Lanka second after Iraq for disappearances

SRI LANKA has the second highest number of disappearances in the world, ranking only behind Iraq, according to the UN Commission on Human Rights, reported in the March 28 London Sunday Times.

The report states that across the country since 1980, 12,000 people have gone missing after being detained by Sri Lankan security forces. Only Iraq had more, with 16,384 missing people.

A UN working group investigating complaints of 12,221 disappearances will soon visit Sri Lanka. Most of those said to have gone missing in the north-east are young Tamil men accused of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who are fighting for a Tamil homeland. More than 55,000 people have been killed in the past 27 years.

[Abridged from TamilNet.]

From GLW issue 357