Dandeniya Gamage Jayanthi is a Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n political activist who focuses on the issue of forced disappearances in the 1980s and '90s.

Background

Jayanthi was one of ten children. Her father worked as a carpenter, and she and her siblings had to work throughout their childhood to earn money for their schooling and books.

After graduating, Jayanthi went to work in Katunayake

Katunayake

Katunayake , is a town situated on the west coast of the island of Sri Lanka near Negombo and close to the commercial capital of Colombo. It is the site of Bandaranaike International Airport, the primary international air gateway to Sri Lanka...

, a Free Trade Zone surrounding Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

's primary airport, Bandaranaike International. There she became engaged to Ranjith Herath, a worker in another factory who had repeatedly petitioned the government over allegedly abuse labor conditions in his plant. Jayanthi later described herself as very unpolitical at this time in her life, wishing only to earn a basic wage and start a family, and she repeatedly scolded Herath for his activism.

In 1989, Herath and his friend M. Lonel disappeared on their way to an inquiry with the management of his factory. The pair were found dead on 27 October in Raddoluwa junction, Seeduwa

Seeduwa

' Seeduwa is a town in Gampaha District in the Western Province of Sri Lanka....

; they had been shot and then their bodies burned. One of Jayanthi's brothers was taken by police and shot later that year, and another brother disappeared

Forced disappearance

In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

 in August 1990. When Jayanthi made persistent inquiries with police officials, she began to receive death threats and be followed by strangers. She finally chose to go into hiding, where she remained until 1992.

Activism

Jayanthi went on to organize other relatives of disappeared persons into the group Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared. The group seeks to maintain interest in pursuing justice for these cases, as well as creating a public space where [survivors] can remember the dead", allowing families to speak openly of their experiences. In 2001, it erected a privately financed "Monument to the Disappeared", one of several planned. The group also seeks to provide financial support, scholarships, and other educational opportunities for the survivors of the disappeared. Over 1,000 disappeared people have now been registered with the group's database.

The group holds an annual ceremony for the disappeared on 27 October, the date that Herath and Lionel were found, in the junction in Seeduwa where their bodies were discovered.

In 2003, Jayanthi was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights

Gwangju Prize for Human Rights

The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights is an award given by the South Korean May 18 Memorial Foundation to recognize "individuals, groups or institutions in Korea and abroad that have contributed in promoting and advancing human rights, democracy and peace through their work." The award is intended to...

 of the South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

-based May 18 Foundation, an annual award recognizing "individuals, groups or institutions in Korea and abroad that have contributed in promoting and advancing human rights, democracy and peace through their work".

External links

• Photo gallery of a Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared ceremony organized by Jayanthi