Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act, No. 14 of 2016 - Sri Lanka

On 23 August 2016, the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act, No. of 2016 was issued.

Art 1 of this Act provides for the establishment of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) which will be in charge of searching and tracing missing persons and implementing other mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of missing persons and their relatives. In addition, article 4 refers to the constitution and composition of this Office. Its members are appointed by the Constitutional Council and must be persons with previous experience in fact finding or investigation, human rights law, international humanitarian law and humanitarian response.

Article 10 lays out the mandate and functions of the OMP which include searching for the missing, coordinating with other instances and formulating recommendations as well as collecting data from multiple sources. Furthermore, article 12 prescribes the investigative powers of this Office, which will be entitled to receive complaints, statements, and initiate inquiries, among others. The OMP is also in charge of issuing a Certificate of Absence in conformity with article 13. Part III of the Act establishes that Office on Missing Persons shall have a Secretariat, a Tracing Unit, and a Victim and Witness Protection Division.

As per Article 27 of the Act a ‘missing person’ is defined as a person whose fate or whereabouts are reasonably believed to be unknown and is reasonably believed to be unaccounted for and missing:- (i) in the course of, consequent to, or in connection with the conflict which took place in the Northern and Eastern Provinces or its aftermath, or is a member of the armed forces or police who is identified as “missing in action”; or (ii) in connection with political unrest or civil disturbances; or (iii) as an enforced disappearance as defined in the “International Convention on Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances”.