White van abductions in Sri Lanka

White Van Abductions in Sri Lanka refer to incidents of enforced disappearances of civilians in White Vans often without number plates. Human rights agencies such as Human Rights Watch and Asian Human Rights Commission have alleged that White Van abductions by death squads and pro government millitias are responsible for the disapperances of thousands of people since the 1980s.

Initially the white vans were alleged to have been used for abduction in the 1980's during the JVP insurrection.There have been allegations of a resurgance of such abductions since 2005 predominantly involving minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the cities of Jaffna and the capital Colombo. [cite news | title = Sri Lanka rapped over 'disappeared' | publisher = BBC | date = 2008-03-06 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7243595.stm
accessdate = 2008-07-07|quote = Sri Lanka's government is one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances, US-based pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. An HRW report accuses security forces and pro-government militias of abducting and "disappearing" hundreds of people - mostly Tamils - since 2006.] [cite news | title = Fears grow over Tamil abductions | publisher = BBC | date = 2006-09-26 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5382582.stm| accessdate = 2008-07-07|quote = The image of the "white van" invokes memories of the "era of terror" in the late 1980s when death squads abducted and killed thousands of Sinhala youth in the south of the country. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says the "white van culture" is now re-appearing in Colombo to threaten the Tamil community.] cite news | title = "Disappearances" on rise in Sri Lanka's dirty war| publisher = The Boston Globe| date = 2006-05-15 | url = http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/09/14/disappearances_on_rise_in_sri_lankas_dirty_war/| accessdate = 2008-07-07|quote = The National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has recorded 419 missing people in Jaffna since December 2005.]

Background

Sri Lanka has a history of disappearances both during the Sri Lankan Civil War.Commissions have alleged how thousands of people have kidnapped by Armed men been treated by the state as a legitimate means during the Civil War and disappeared without a trace. [ [http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/729/ SRI LANKA: White vans without number plates; the symbol of disappearances reappear] ] The victims belong to the minority Tamil community, and youths from the Sinhala community disappeared during the War against the JVP insurgency. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/31/news/lanka.php Specter of abductions returns to Sri Lanka] ]

According to the ministry of defence of Sri Lanka, a group of suspects who claimed to be operating a white van were found to have links with the opposition United National Party with one suspect being on the security of Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe. It was implied that this was a attempt by the opposition to tarnish the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. [http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080804_02]

Terror against civilians

White vans have been part of life in Jaffna and abductions are carried with impunity even during curfew hours. [BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2007/03/070323_jaffna_batticaloa.shtml White van 'terrorises' Jaffna] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_eJt5Op_SE White Van Abduction captured in Video]
* [http://lankadailynews.com/2008/08/white-van-death-squad-exposed/ Lanka News] White Van Death Squad exposed