Tamil families of the disappeared marked eight years of continuous roadside protests in Kilinochchi today, as they continue to search for their relatives who were forcibly disappeared by the Sri Lanka's security forces.
Tamil families of the disappeared in Kilinochchi began their protest on 20 February 2017 after years of deception by Sri Lankan state led commissions and initiatives. This sparked protests by families of the disappeared in other districts of the Tamil homeland.
Today, the families clutched photographs of their disappeared relatives and carried clay pots on their heads, performing a traditional Tamil practice of penance or vow-fulfilment, whilst they marched through Kilinochchi.
The families said:
"Eight years have passed since the struggle for our forcibly disappeared relatives began. We have been wondering if we will ever see our children at least once. We are going into the ninth year of our protest and yet we don't have any answers."
"No one has told us the truth about what happened to our children," they added.
The families have been calling for an international investigation into the disappearances of their relatives as Sri Lanka's domestic mechanisms have repeatedly failed to provide meaningful answers and accountability.
Tamil families of the disappeared have defiantly continued their protests despite being subjected to surveillance, intimidation, harassment and violence by Sri Lanka's security forces. The UN High Commissioner Volker Turk wrote in his 2024 report that families of the disappeared faced reprisals for engaging with the UN or international actors.
Since taking office, Sri Lanka's president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has not engaged with the Tamil families of the disappeared.
At the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Sri Lanka claimed that "domestic mechanisms and processes that deal with reconciliation, accountability and justice will be credible and independent within the Constitutional framework, and a truth and reconciliation process that has the people’s trust will be operationalised."
