United Nations A/HRC/42/40/Add.1 General Assembly Distr.: General 10 September 2019 English/Spanish only Human Rights Council Forty-second session 9–27 September 2019 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection Follow-up on the visits of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to Peru and Sri Lanka Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances * Summary This document contains information supplied by Governments, authorities, civil society and other stakeholders, relating to the follow-up measures to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, following its visits to Peru and Sri Lanka in 2015 (A/HRC/33/51/Add.3 and A/HRC/33/51/Add.2. * The present document is being issued without formal editing. GE.19-15415(E) *1915415* A/HRC/42/40/Add.1 Contents Page I. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 3 II. Sri Lanka ................................................................................................................................. 3 III. Peru ................................................................................................................................. 89 2 A/HRC/42/40/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. This document contains information supplied by Governments, civil society and other stakeholders, relating to the follow-up measures to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, following its country visits. In paragraph 7 a) of its Resolution 7/12, the Human Rights Council requested Governments that have accepted visits “to give all necessary attention to the Working Group’s recommendations” and invited them to inform the Working Group of “any action they take on those recommendations”. The Human Rights council reiterates this request in paragraph 16 a) of its Resolution 21/4. Resolution 36/6 renews the mandate of the Working Group in conformity with the terms set forth in Human Rights Council resolution 7/12. 2. The Working Group decided in 2010 to adopt the present format to its follow- up reports with the aim of rendering it reader-friendly and of facilitating the identification of concrete steps taken in response to the specific recommendations and to reflect the opinions of the different actors involved in the process. For this reason, follow-up tables have been created. The tables contain the recommendations of the Working Group, a brief description of the situation when the country visit was undertaken, an overview of the steps taken on the basis of the information gathered by the Working Group both from governmental and non-governmental sources, and the observations of the Working Group on the level of implementation of the recommendations. 3. The Working Group continues to offer its assistance to the Governments that have received a visit, to comply with the recommendations made and stands ready to assist them in their efforts to prevent and combat the heinous crime of enforced disappearance. II. Sri Lanka Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in the report of its visit to Sri Lanka from 9 to 18 November 2015 (A/HRC/33/51/Add.2) 4. On 29 November 2018, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances requested the Government of Sri Lanka to provide information on measures taken to implement the recommendations that were made in the report A/HRC/33/51/Add.1 (paragraphs 77 - 84), after its visit to the country in November 2019. On 7 June 2019, the Government of Sri Lanka provided the requested information. On 11 July 2019 the Government provided additional information, and on 27 June 2019 the Office of Missing Persons provided an additional response. On 6 August 2019, the Working Group sent the below table for comments to the Government of Sri Lanka, which provided further additional information on 5 September 2019. 5. The Working Group thanks the Government of Sri Lanka for the cooperation with the process of the follow up report. While welcoming progress in the implementation of some recommendations, it notes that many have only been partially addressed or have not been addressed at all. The Group underlines the importance of full implementation of all of the recommendations made in the report. 6. The Working Group welcomes the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), as well as information that it has a range of powers to obtain information and evidence relevant to its investigations, that three regional offices have been opened and several trilingual reports have been published. It also welcomes information according to which the OMP now has access to the records of past 3 A/HRC/42/40/Add.1 commissions of inquiry and hopes the cases can be promptly transferred and recorded in the OMP’s case load. The Working Group notes though that further steps are needed to fully meet the recommendations made in relation to the OMP. In particular, the Working Group is concerned at information that the OMP has faced hurdles, which have limited its ability to acquire the necessary resources and to recruit staff in a timely manner. It urges the Government to ensure the OMP is fully recognised by all state agencies as an independent commission, that staff recruitment can proceed promptly, that the technical complexity of the mandate is taken into account in staffing and recruiting regulations. Sufficient funds should be allocated and should not be vulnerable to being diverted. It also notes that some families remain sceptical of the Office and encourages further efforts to reach out to all affected families throughout the country, as well as those living abroad and hopes the further regional, sub-regional and mobile offices planned, as well as the psychosocial responsiveness strategy, can be promptly operationalised. It will also be important that the powers granted to the OMP are effectively implemented in practice. 7. The Working Group regrets that neither a judicial accountability mechanism nor a truth seeking mechanism have been created. It re-iterates the importance of the swift establishment of both mechanisms. With regards to the judicial mechanism, it highlights the importance of integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators. While noting that draft legislation on a future truth commission was presented to the Cabinet, it regrets that draft has not yet been made public or the subject of consultations and that no information was provided on most recommendations related to the body in relation to the inclusion of civil society, a vetting process for Commissioners as well as the Commission’s envisaged resources, capacities and powers. 8. The Office for Reparations has recently been established and funds have been included in the 2019 to support families of the disappeared as a form of interim relief. The Group reiterates its recommendation to develop, as a matter of urgency, a national reparations policy taking into account the specific needs of women and children, as well as a national resettlement policy. The educational needs of the children of disappeared persons should also be prioritised as recommended. 9. The Working Group welcomes information according to which a circular was issued by the Acting Inspector General of the Police to all senior police officers regarding threats, intimidation and harassment, with specific reference to the WGEID recommendation after the country visit. It also welcomes information that a media statement was issued in 2018 providing information on complaints mechanisms. The Group also notes that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police have reiterated their commitment to preventing any form of threats, harassment and intimidation. However, the Working Group notes that civil society organisations do not appear to be aware of such commitments and is extremely concerned by continuing reports of surveillance, threats, intimidation, harassment of relatives of the disappeared and calls on the Government to take urgent action to address these, including investigation of previous and new cases and the prosecution of perpetrators. 10. The Working Group further observes that there remains a climate of impunity in Sri Lanka and a lack of actions envisaged to address this. The Working Group is concerned by the slow pace of criminal investigations, in particular that it remains the case that only a few emblematic cases have reached the trial stage and none have concluded. It is also very concerned by an alleged incident of obstruction by the Office of the Attorney General in the investigation of a case and information that the armed forces continue to intervene in ongoing cases and have delayed or provided inaccurate information in court proceedings. It further notes worrying information received according to which some individuals suspected of having been involved in the commission of enforced disappearances and related offences are being permitted to remain in positions of power including within the armed forces and the police. In this regard, it expresses serious concern at the appointment of Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as Commander of the Sri Lankan Army in August 2019, despite 4 A/HRC/42/40/Add.1 there being serious allegations of gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law against him and soldiers under his command, including enforced disappearances 1. 11. The Working Group urges urgent action to ensure that all cases