To commemorate the ‘International Day of Missing Persons’ declared by the United Nations that falls on August 30 (today), a ceremony was held at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agricultural Research Institute, Colombo 07 on Wednesday 28, under the patronage of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister, Ali Sabri, PC.
The event was organised by the Office for the Missing Persons, and the Justice Minister, who delivered the keynote speech at the celebration, said that the government is committed to ensuring a dignified end and justice for the families of the missing and their loved ones.
Speaking further Minister Sabri said; “The Office for the Missing Persons, which was established with the primary objective of providing solutions to the problems of the people affected by the civil war in this country, has established the trust of the people through the task of determining the status of the missing persons and providing solutions to them.
Since 1980 to date, 14,500 people have disappeared. Answers should be given to those people through the existing mechanism to do justice to the missing persons. Some people use the problems of the disappeared people for political purposes. It should be understood that Sri Lankans are Sri Lankans wherever they are, North or South. They should not be allowed to use the existing issues for the needs of different people. The government released 12,900 LTTE members who were involved in the war after rehabilitating them. They were not involved in terrorist activities again.
It should be understood that we cannot move forward without listening to the voice of those who are in an uncomfortable situation due to the disappearance of their relatives. For this, the Office for the Missing Persons has been assigned a big role.
By establishing the Office for Truth and Reconciliation, the missing people are given further opportunities to get justice. We respect the international community for providing the technical support for the affairs of Sri Lanka. But they should not influence the internal affairs of our country.”
Minister Sabri also said that the aim of the government is to do justice to the 22 million Sri Lankan people. Attorney-at-Law Mahesh Katulanda, Chairman of the Office for the Missing Persons, Nihal Ranasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reform, Attorney General, President’s Counsel Parinda Ranasinghe, South African High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Sandile Edwin Schalk, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Dr. Siri Walt, Executive Director of the Office for Missing Persons, J. Tatparan and other government officials and a group of relatives of the missing persons were present at this event.
The post Commemoration of ‘International Day of Missing Persons’ as declared by United Nations appeared first on DailyNews.