Clarifying the Past and Commemorating Sri Lanka's Disappeared

in the areas of historical clarification, justice and accountability,
reparations and socioeconomic support.
The disappearances which have been reported to Families
of the Disappeared are a portion of the total number of
disappearances in Sri Lanka. FoD intends to build on this
preliminary documentation of disappearances and extend
this analysis with other groups which work on disappearances.
In particular, the FoD intends to build a massive,
scientifically-defensible record of total magnitude, pattern
of past disappearances in Sri Lanka, along with the proportional
responsibility for these crimes. The project will
integrate FoD’s own documentation with data collected by
the presidential commissions of inquiry, United Nations
Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances,
and other Sri Lankan human rights groups. Such
a body of evidence will help to clarify Sri Lanka’s turbulent
history of forced disappearances and identify those
most responsible and guard against continued impunity for
these crimes. Furthermore, it will help to shift the debate
about past disappearances to a foundation which is based
on empirical data and well-established statistical methods.
This will facilitate a more evidence-based approach to answering
critical truth and accountability questions such as
”Were disappearances widespread?”, ”Was the pattern of
disappearances over time and space consistent with a pat-
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