Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-12-09

Signing and Ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

- The above Convention which is based on the fundamental principle that “no person shall be subjected to enforced disappearance” defines enforced disappearance as a human rights violation and each State Party to this Convention has to enact legislation to prohibit such enforced disappearance, treating it as a criminal offence. So far, the Convention has been signed by 94 states and ratified by 51. In keeping with the mandate and the vision of this Government to safeguard and protect the human rights of all citizens and to ensure the non-recurrence of conflicts, the proposal made by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to take necessary measures to effect the provisions of that Convention in the country, was approved by the Cabinet.