Sri Lanka's Missing Persons Office Handles Nearly 17,000 Active Cases

Many people in Sri Lanka disappeared a long time ago, and their families still do not know what happened to them.

A special government office called the Office of Missing Persons is working to help these families.

The office is currently handling almost 17,000 active cases.

Its database holds more than 23,000 cases in total.

Many of the disappearances happened during a long war that ended in 2009.

The head of the office, Mahesh Katulanda, shared these numbers at an event on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The office talks one-on-one with relatives to learn what happened to their loved ones.

So far, it has talked with 9,072 families.

Each family receives a one-time payment of 5,000 Sri Lankan rupees to help them, but this is not compensation.

The government has released over 375 million rupees so the office can keep doing its work.