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Tens of thousands of people have been disappeared in Sri Lanka since the 1980s. A 1999 study by the United Nations found that Sri Lanka had the second highest number of disappearances in the world and that 12,000 Sri Lankans had disappeared after being detained by the Sri Lankan security forces. A few years earlier the Sri Lankan government had estimated that 17,000 people had disappeared. In 2003 the Red Cross stated that it had received 20,000 complaints of disappearances during the Sri Lankan Civil War of which 9,000 had been resolved but the remaining 11,000 were still being investigated. Amnesty International reported in 2017 that the disappeared persons in Sri Lanka could be between 60,000 and 100,000 since the late 1980s.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Asian Human Rights Commission have documented many of the disappearances and attributed them to the Sri Lankan security forces, pro-government paramilitary groups and Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups.

In 2016, the government under president Maithripala Sirisena agreed to issue a certificate of absence to relatives of over 65,000 that went missing during the civil war and the marxist uprising allowing them to temporarily manage the property and assets of missing people, to obtain provisional guardianship of their children and apply for government welfare schemes. Further the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) a proposal by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was created in the same year

In 2020, president Gotabaya Rajapaksa confirmed that the missing people from the civil war are actually dead.

Background

Sri Lanka has a history of disappearances, both during the Sri Lankan Civil War and the 1980s JVP insurrection. Commissions have documented how thousands of people have been kidnapped by armed men and disappeared without a trace. The victims largely belong to the minority Sri Lankan Tamil community and thousands of Sinhalese youths from the Sinhalese community during the JVP insurgency.

White van abductions

Many Tamil nationalists claim there was a resurgence of abductions in 2005 after the failure of Norwegian mediated peace process. The victims of the abductions were predominantly Sri Lankan Tamils living in Jaffna and Colombo. A notable feature in the abductions is the use of white vans without number plates. White van abductions were a part of life in Jaffna and the abductions were carried with impunity even during curfew hours in this period.

Several youth were also abducted in Colombo by white vans in 2008. The families of the victims accused the then navy commander and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of the abductions.

Then president Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother and then defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is accused of being the "architect of white van abductions" and is accused of silencing critics and dissidents. However Gotabhaya replied saying that White vans only abduct "criminals"

See also

• Allegations of State terrorism by Sri Lanka
• Human rights in Sri Lanka
• War crimes in Sri Lanka

References

1. ^ "Sri Lanka's disappeared thousands". BBC News. 28 March 1999.
2. "Hope for Sri Lanka's disappeared". BBC News. 19 February 2003.
3. "'Sri Lanka: Refusing to Disappear'" (PDF). Amnesty International.
4. "ASA 37/024/1997 Government's response to widespread "disappearances" in Jaffna". Amnesty International. 27 November 1997. Archived from the original on 9 August 2009.
5. "Sri Lanka: 'Disappearances' by Security Forces a National Crisis". Human Rights Watch. 6 March 2008.
6. "Sri Lanka admits 65,000 missing from war, insurrection". Reuters India. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
7. "Office on Missing Persons is to seek the truth: Prime Minister". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
8. "Sri Lanka's Proposed Office of Missing Persons: Mandate and Powers | Sri Lanka Brief". srilankabrief.org. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
9. Srinivasan, Meera (20 January 2020). "Sri Lanka civil war: Missing persons are dead, says Gotabaya". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
10. SRI LANKA: White vans without number plates; the symbol of disappearances reappear
11. Specter of abductions returns to Sri Lanka
12. MOOLAKKATTU, JOHN STEPHEN (2005). "Peace Facilitation by Small States: Norway in Sri Lanka". Cooperation and Conflict. 40 (4): 385–402. doi:10.1177/0010836705058225. ISSN 0010-8367. JSTOR 45084339. S2CID 56389605.
13. "Sri Lanka rapped over 'disappeared'". BBC. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008. Sri Lanka's government is one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances, US-based pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. An HRW report accuses security forces and pro-government militias of abducting and "disappearing" hundreds of people - mostly Tamils - since 2006.
14. "Fears grow over Tamil abductions". BBC. 26 September 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2008. The image of the "white van" invokes memories of the "era of terror" in the late 1980s when death squads killed or forcibly disappeared 30,000 to 60,000 Sinhalese youths believed to support the JVP. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says the "white van culture" is now re-appearing in Colombo to threaten the Tamil community.
15. ^ ""Disappearances" on rise in Sri Lanka's dirty war". The Boston Globe. 15 May 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
16. BBC White van 'terrorises' Jaffna
17. "Sri Lanka's sinister white van abductions". BBC News. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
18. "Have they been killed or hidden?". Retrieved 12 July 2017.
19. "Rajapaksa's brother probed over killings". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
20. "Only criminals are abducted by white vans – Gota". Lankatruth.com. Retrieved 11 June 2016.

External links

• Black, Laura (1999). "Forced Disappearances in Sri Lanka Constitute a Crime Against Humanity".
• Lanka News White Van Death Squad exposed

v t e Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009)
Origins	Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism Sinhala Only Act 1956 1958 Vaddukoddai Resolution 1977 1981 Burning of Jaffna Library Black July
Combatants	Sri Lanka Army (LRRP) Navy Air Force Police Special Task Force Home Guards Attacks on civilians Assassinations LTTE Divisions Air Tigers Sea Tigers Black Tigers Attacks in the 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Assassinations Suicide bombings Other militants (list) ENDLF ENLF EPRLF EROS PLOTE TELO  India Indian Peace Keeping Force Paramilitary groups EPDP TMVP
Phases	Eelam War I Indian intervention Eelam War II III IV Eastern / Northern theatres
Major battles	Kokkilai Vadamarachchi Poomalai Pawan Jaffna University Helidrop Balavegaya 1st Elephant Pass Pooneryn Riviresa 1st Mullaitivu Weli Oya Sath Jaya Vavunathivu Jayasikurui Thandikulam–Omanthai 1st Kilinochchi Oddusuddan A-9 highway 2nd Elephant Pass Bandaranaike Airport attack Point Pedro Jaffna Thoppigala Vidattaltivu 2nd Kilinochchi 2nd Mullaitivu Puthukkudiyirippu
Major events	Air Lanka Flight 512 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Expulsions from Northern province Assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa Temple of the Tooth attack Lionair Flight 602 Bandaranaike Airport attack Expulsions from Colombo 2009 suicide air raid on Colombo
Leaders	Sri Lanka Military Army Tissa Weeratunga Nalin Seneviratne Hamilton Wanasinghe Cecil Waidyaratne G. H. De Silva Rohan Daluwatte Srilal Weerasooriya L. P. Balagalle Shantha Kottegoda Sarath Fonseka Navy Asoka de Silva H. A. Silva Clancy Fernando D. A. M. R. Samarasekara H. C. A. C. Thisera Daya Sandagiri Wasantha Karannagoda Air Force Dick Perera Andibuduge Fernando Makalandage Gunawardena Oliver Ranasinghe Jayalath Weerakkody Donald Perera Roshan Goonetileke Civilian J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa LTTE Militant Velupillai Prabhakaran Pottu Amman Soosai Karuna Amman Political Selvarasa Pathmanathan Anton Balasingham S. P. Thamilselvan India Military Harkirat Singh Ashok K. Mehta Kulwant Singh Depinder Singh Dalvir Singh Krishnaswamy Sundarji Civilian R. Venkataraman Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Jyotindra Nath Dixit J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Vaiko
Aftermath	Genocide Films NPC resolution LLRC Reactions (Protests) Remembrance Day UN Panel on Accountability War crimes Chemical weapons
Related topics	Casualties Assassinations Massacres Child soldiers Disappearances Office on Missing Persons Human rights Popular culture Terrorism Non-state State PTA Sexual violence Sixth Amendment Thirteenth Amendment 1988 Maldives coup attempt 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
Sri Lankan civil war at Wiktionary    Source texts at Wikisource    Textbooks at Wikibooks   Images and media at the Commons    Quotations at Wikiquote    News stories at Wikinews

v t e Politics of Sri Lanka
Law	Kandyan Constitution Donoughmore Constitution (1931) Soulbury Constitution (1947) Republican Constitution (1972) 1997 Draft Constitution (1997) 2000 Draft Constitution (2000) Constitution Proposed Constitution Acts of the Parliament Kandyan law Thesavalamai Muslim law Roman-Dutch law English law
Political history	Kandyan independence movement (1470s) Crisis of the Sixteenth Century (1505–1594) Wijayaba Kollaya (1521) Sinhalese–Portuguese War (1527–1658) Portuguese conquest of Jaffna (1560–1619) Fall of Kotte (1597) British invasion of Ceylon (1795) Kandyan Wars (1796–1818) American Ceylon Mission (1813) Kandyan Convention (1815) Sri Lankan independence movement (1817–1948) Great Rebellion of 1817–18 (1817–1818) Colebrooke-Cameron Commission (1829) Matale rebellion (1848) Temperance movement (1895) 1915 Ceylonese riots (1915) Ceylon National Congress (1919) Jaffna Youth Congress (1924) Donoughmore Commission (1927) Suriya-Mal Movement (1933–1939) Bracegirdle Incident (1937) Cocos Islands mutiny (1942) Soulbury Commission (1944) Independence Day (1948) Ceylon Citizenship Act (1948) State-sponsored colonisation schemes (1950s–2000s) 1953 Ceylonese Hartal (1953) Nehru-Kotelawala Pact (1954) Sinhala Only Act (1956) 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom (1956) Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact (1957) 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom (1958) Coup d'état attempt (1962) Sirima–Shastri Pact (1964) Alleged coup d'état attempt (1966) Policy of standardisation (1971) 1971 JVP insurrection (1971) Republic Day (1972) Sirima–Gandhi Pact (1974) Vaddukoddai Resolution (1976) 1977 Sri Lankan riots (1977) Burning of Jaffna Public Library (1981) Black July (1983) Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (1987) 1987 anti-Sinhalese riots (1987) 1987–1989 JVP insurrection (1987–1989) Mawanella riots (2001) 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka (2014) Alleged coup d'état attempt (2015) 2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka (2018) 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis (2018) 2019 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka (2019) 2022 Sri Lankan protests (2022) 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis (2022)
Political movements	Ideologies Capitalism Communism Conservatism Environmentalism Federalism Liberalism Separatism Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism Socialism Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism Tamil Eelam Non-Aligned Movement Unitary state Political parties Current parties United National Party Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Samagi Jana Balawegaya Tamil National Alliance Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Defunct political parties Leftist parties in Sri Lanka Other groups Tamil militant groups Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Others
Government	Executive Presidency President Cabinet / Ministries Administrative Service National Security Council Law enforcement Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Court of appeal High Courts District courts Magistrate's Courts Primary Courts Labour Tribunal Legislative Parliament Speaker Prime Minister Office Leader of the House Leader of the Opposition Chief Government Whip Chief Opposition Whip Secretaries-General 16th Parliament Members
Political culture	Issues 6th Amendment 13th Amendment 19th Amendment Assassinations Capital punishment Caste system Corruption Crime Elections Freedom of the press Censorship Media bias Online Safety Bill Enforced disappearances Gender inequality Human rights Indentured labourers LGBT rights Poverty Scandals Sexual minorities Terrorism Terminology White van
By province	Central Province Eastern Province North Central Province Northern Province North Western Province Sabaragamuwa Southern Province Uva Western Province
Other	Electoral districts Foreign relations Provincial governments Local governments Political families
Category

• Enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka
• Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
• Military of Sri Lanka
• People of the Sri Lankan civil war
• Sri Lanka Police
• Causes of the Aragalaya