OMP to open office in Jaffna

Saturday, 17 August 2019 04:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Office of Missing Persons will open its third regional office in Jaffna next week in an effort to provide greater access to families of the disappeared, it said in a statement yesterday.

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) is opening its regional office in Jaffna at No. 124, Adiyapatham Road, Jaffna on 24 August. This will be the third regional office of the OMP to open this year. Presently the OMP has regional offices in Matara and Mannar.

The inauguration will be by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Constitutional Council Chairman Mano Ganesan will also participate. The OMP has a primary mandate to search for and trace the fate and whereabouts of missing and disappeared persons in Sri Lanka.

The establishment of the OMP is an acknowledgement of the widespread disappearances that have occurred over four decades in multiple contexts in Sri Lanka and is an explicit recognition of the responsibility of the State to provide answers to the thousands of affected citizens in our country.

“The regional offices shall ensure greater access to the OMP by families of the missing and disappeared. They will provide a range of services including accepting complaints from family members, following up with district level state agencies on administrative issues faced by families and carrying out inquiries on individual cases. As the OMP continues to establish its offices and operationalise its mandate, it remains committed to protecting the rights of victims and their families,” the statement said.