Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya has reiterated her government’s commitment to the Office on Missing Persons (OMP), despite widespread rejection of such domestic mechanisms by victims' families and Tamil civil society.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday in response to a question raised by Ilankai Tamil Arasu katchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, Amarasuriya claimed the government remains committed to “delivering justice to those who have been affected by the issue of disappearances.”
Her remarks come as Tamil families of the disappeared marked the 3,000th day of continuous protest in Vavuniya this week, demanding truth and accountability for their missing relatives, many of whom were last seen in Sri Lankan military custody during and after the final phase of the armed conflict.
“We cannot conduct these investigations on a personal basis and such matters must be addressed legally and institutionally,” Amarasuriya said. “The institutional and systemic failures in the past years mainly caused the delays in these matters.”
While acknowledging public distrust in existing bodies, she added: “The public has lost their trust in the Office for Reparations and the Office on Missing Persons because they were merely established in name and lacked adequate strength and were largely ineffective. This is what happened in the past, and that is what [is] expected to be corrected.”
Amarasuriya’s continued defence of these institutions stands in contrast to years of rejection by families of the disappeared, who have consistently denounced the OMP as lacking independence, credibility, or enforcement power. Tamil families have repeatedly called for international investigations and have dismissed domestic mechanisms, including the OMP, as attempts to deflect genuine accountability.
Amarasuriya stated that the solution lies in ensuring the “right individuals are placed in positions,” that “sufficient resources are allocated,” and that institutions are “capable of fulfilling their responsibilities.” However, such reformist language has previously failed to satisfy victims, particularly as successive governments have used the existence of these offices to claim progress while continuing to obstruct justice.
“There are still pending legal disputes related to the missing persons. Some of these cases have been under dispute for the past 16 years. It is not an easy task, but the government is committed to ensuring justice,” she said.
Amid continued domestic and international scrutiny, the Amarasuriya also noted that Cabinet has approved a proposal from the Ministry of Justice to appoint a committee to provide recommendations on repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) - a piece of legislation long used to detain Tamils without charge and condemned by rights organisations as enabling torture and abuse.
Despite repeated pledges to repeal the PTA, including at recent EU-Sri Lanka human rights dialogues the law remains in force.
