Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the progress of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka.

A very high number of cases relating to Sri Lanka remain under consideration by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, including at the Working Group's most recent session in September 2021. We note the Working Group's concerns about Sri Lanka raised in its report of 4 August 2021, including the need for the Sri Lankan authorities to stop rolling back the progress made in recent years in ensuring accountability for past crimes and justice for victims.

UN Human Rights Council resolution 46/1, led by the UK along with our partners in the Core Group on Sri Lanka, stresses the importance of the Government of Sri Lanka maintaining support for the Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations, safeguarding their independent and effective functioning, and resolving the many cases of enforced disappearances so that the families of disappeared persons can know their fate and whereabouts. We will continue to engage with the Government of Sri Lanka on this important issue.