President signs gazette notification on missing persons act

President Maithripala Sirisena has signed the gazette notification on the Missing Persons Act (No16. 2016), which will entail the establishment of the investigative office and administrative practices pertaining to the matter.
 
Activities relevant to the matter mentioned in the gazette notification will be forwarded to the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ravi Karunanayake yesterday (20). 

The seven members, who will be appointed to work for the board appointed for the investigation on missing persons, will be decided upon by the legislative council of Sri Lanka. 

The act on Missing Persons was passed on the 11 of August last year (2016). 

Hence inspection and investigations on forced, involuntary disappearances and missing persons will be carried out by the relevant institution.

The office set up to investigate missing persons will be able to receive complaints regarding the missing from relatives or any other individual concerned with the matter. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) stated that he has commended the Government of Sri Lanka for establishing the Office of Missing Persons (OMP). Adding on, he stated that this was a significant milestone for all Sri Lankans still searching for the truth about their missing loved ones. 

Furthermore he added that the UN stands ready to support this process and the Secretary-General looks forward to the OMP becoming operational as soon as possible, starting with the appointment of the independent commissioners.