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STORY: OHCHR / SRI LANKA JAFFNA MASS GRAVE SITE
TRT: 03:16
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 JUNE 2025, CHEMMANI, JAFFNA, SRI LANKA
1. Various shots, HC Türk at Chemmani mass grave site
2. Various shots, HC Türk visiting mass grave site
3. Wide shot, arrival of family of disappeared
4. Various shots, HC Türk speaking with family
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I am here at a mass grave site at Chemmani near Jaffna. It is always very emotional to visit places where the haunting past becomes so visible.”
6. Wide shot, mass grave site
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“When you are at a mass grave site, the one thing that needs to be done is thorough investigations, robust investigations, by independent experts with forensic expertise who can bring out the truth and close the pain and suffering of family members whose loved ones were disappeared.”
8. Wide shot, travelling shot on road to nearby vigil
9. Various shots, protesters conducting a vigil
10. Med shot, HC Türk laying flowers
11. Med shot, HC Türk speaking with family
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“I’ve also just met the family members of those whose loved ones who were disappeared. [I met a] woman whose nephew disappeared in the mid-1990s, and they are always worrying what has happened to him. This is always the pain and suffering that we feel when you speak to people who don’t know what happened to their loved ones”.
13. Wide shot, HC Türk speaking with family
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“So, this is a step further towards accountability and justice, and bringing closure to what otherwise is extremely painful.”
15. Wide shot, HC Türk speaking with family
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today (25 Jun) visited the recently discovered mass grave site at Chemmani on the outskirts of Jaffna in Sri Lanka’s Tamil heartland in the north of the country.
“I am here at a mass grave site Chemmani near Jaffna. It is always very emotional to visit places where the haunting past becomes so visible,” said Türk.
The remains of 19 people have been found at the site, three of them believed to be infants. The site is in the early stages of investigation, and the remains have not been identified.
“When you are at a mass grave site, the one thing that needs to be done is thorough investigations, robust investigations, by independent experts with forensic expertise who can bring out the truth and close the pain and suffering of family members whose loved ones were disappeared,” the High Commissioner said.
Hundreds of people greeted the High Commissioner at the site, where protesters have been conducting a vigil and lit an ‘eternal’ flame in memory of those buried there.
“I’ve also just met the family members of those whose loved ones were disappeared. [I met a] woman whose nephew disappeared in the mid-1990s, and they are always worrying what has happened to him. This is always the pain and suffering that we feel when you speak to people who don’t know what happened to their loved ones,” the High Commissioner said.
The grave site is the latest of dozens of sites unearthed throughout the country. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives during the 26-year long civil war which ended in 2009, and thousands more disappeared.
Victims’ groups have continued to advocate for truth and justice for their missing loved ones. “So, this is a step further towards accountability and justice, and bringing closure to what otherwise is extremely painful,” the High Commissioner said.
