Office on Missing Persons commence operations

COLOMBO (News First) -The President appointed 'Office of Missing Persons' officially commenced it's duties today (March 13).

President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris has been appointed as the Chairman of the Commission, which will be in function for a period of three years.

The key purpose of OMP is to address the suffering of thousands of families, from all parts of the island, whose loved ones have disappeared during the conflict periods.

OMP promises to address all possible cases linked with enforced disappearance of individuals -irrespective of ethnicity, religion, and region.

The key tasks of the OMP consist of following ;

(i) Tracing missing and disappeared persons, clarifying the circumstances in which the act took place

(ii) Protecting the rights and interests of those missing/disappeared and next of kin of them

(iii) Identifying avenues of rectifying for those affected 

(iv) Making recommendations to the relevant authorities in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

This commission is one of the four main pillars of Sri Lanka’s 'transitional justice agenda' which promises accountability and justice. This is considered as an important step towards addressing the issue of missing persons and enforced disappearances.

The act on OMP was drafted in Parliament during August 2016, however, was not signed by the President until recent time.