This sense of hope, however, became short-lived in Sri Lanka, a country where more than 60,000 people have reportedly been "disappeared." Barely a month after the adoption of the Convention, the National Human Rights Commission, the region’s premier statutory body mandated to promote and protect the rights of the citizens, put on hold the investigations on over 2000 cases of disappearances "until special directions are received from the government."

This suspension of justice is a betrayal to thousands of families yearning for justice and redress that have already been long overdue. It is a backward development that must be gravely etched beside the names of the newly appointed commissioners of the said local human rights body.

According to the former manager of the said project, the recommendation he submitted seeking more funding to sustain the operations was rejected for the reason that "the findings will result in payment of compensation, etc." Such statement doesn’t justify why an independent body be dependent on government instructions.

The Committee’s claim that it is still awaiting special directives from the government already runs contrary to the mandate it has sworn to do: investigate by its own motion, with or without complaints from victims and third parties, allegations of an infringement of fundamental rights.3 It also violated the Paris Principles4 which maintains that the NHRC should "freely consider any questions falling within its competence, whether they are submitted by the Government or taken up by it without referral to a higher authority."

The Paris Principles are the standards to which the NHRC committed itself to as a member of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institution and as an accredited Commission of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions.

It is an extremely sorry state of affairs considering that the country’s premier statutory body for the protection of human rights depends on the government’s orders. This further cast doubt upon the NHRC as the government is alleged to be the perpetrator of the cases of disappearances it investigates.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office, particularly the National Human Rights Institution must intervene soon and call for the resumption of the cases’ processing. The International Coordination Committee and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions must also seriously consider the accreditation and membership of the Sri Lankan NHRC. Most importantly, civil society – in Sri Lanka and outside – must rise up against this blatant act of injustice towards the families of the disappeared and ensure that justice soon prevails.

So long as justice is left hanging, so are the lives of the victims.