Vanni IDPs in camps seek HRCSL help to locate missing relative

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 14:09 GMT]
Vavuniyaa regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) receives twenty-five to thirty written complaints daily by post from internally displaced inmates held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa, according to an HRCSL official. The official further said IDPs held in camps or members of public who are expecting the services of his institution regarding locating missing relatives in the final stages of the war could write to HRCSL office located along Railway Station Road in Vavuniyaa or by telephone. The telephone number is 024-2222029.

The government has now allowed HRCSL officials to visit these camps and look into their problems and sufferings of the IDPs held there and to provide redress. “Since then only we receive written complaints by post daily seeking HRCSL assistance. In most of the complainants the IDPs seek the assistance of the HRCSL to locate their relatives who are reported missing or disappeared since they fled from Mu’l’livaaikkaal in Mullaiththeevu district during the final assault on the LTTE,” said the HRCSL official.

The official further said his institution has been in touch with the relevant authorities to collect information to be supplied to the complainants in the camps in Vavuniyaa.