Challenges of the Transitional Justice Activities in Sri Lanka: A Special Study on Missing Persons in Northern Province
- April 12, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Category: Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue III, March 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186
K. Jashmiya
University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Abstract:- This research seeks to identify the challenges in dealing with issues pertaining to civilian disappearances in the Northern Province and how the ongoing transitional justice process of the government address the above issues. Transitional justice mechanisms essentially react to past human rights violations. Sri Lanka has the second highest record of disappearances in the world, which is largely a result of the war and its related atrocities. There is a need to probe into the issue in the interest of closure for those emotionally affected by such disappearances, and thereby ensure meaningful reconciliation in the country. The objective of this research is to identify the challenges of meaningfully engaging in this process. Primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed using the descriptive method. 30 respondents were selected from the districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar for this purpose. Data were collected through observations, discussions and semi-structured interviews. The transitional government is conducting many activities for missing persons such as celebrating the day of missing persons, establishing missing person’s commissions, and recognizing many acts of missing persons. However, the government faces numerous challenges on this front such as the reluctance on the public’s part to share details about missing persons for security reasons, the belief that transitional justice initiatives are worthless, and the lack of faith in the government’s willingness to publicize the details of army personnel allegedly implicated in these this issue. The thrust of this paper is to approach these issues within a transitional justice framework, particularly arguing for truth, criminal persecutions, and reparation for those affected.
Key words: – Transitional justice, Good Governance Government, Missing Persons, Sri Lanka
I. INTRODUCTION
Ethnic conflict mirrors the inevitable issues in modern states with different ethnicities, religions, languages and cultures. Sri Lanka has not been an exception. During 30years of war and also the post war period, there were a huge number of people missing in the country, largely using the license given by to Prevention of Terrorism Act. Especially Tamils suspected of links to the LTTE were forcibly disappeared by the police, military and paramilitary operatives during the course of the armed conflict (Institute for International Cooperation JICA, 2002 ) Sri Lanka records the highest number of disappearances in Asia as well as compared with other countries in the world.
