White van abductions against Tamil People in srilanka - Photo's

"His hands were tied up behind his back and he was beaten. I could see that he was beaten. Sometimes we believe he will come back, sometimes we believe he is no more."

Sri Lankan checkpoint
The country has witnessed 25 years of insurgency

A mother-in-law describes seeing her daughter's husband in a TMVP camp after being detained by the group in eastern Sri Lanka.

That was a year ago, and he has not been seen since. The family do not know if he is alive or dead.

Sunila Abeysekera, a prominent Sri Lankan human rights activist says abduction is now common practice. She explains that in the east, the Tamil civilian population was forced to engage with the Tigers as they were in control of the area for many years.

Now that the rebels have been defeated, she says, the civilians that interacted with the LTTE are being targeted.

Tamil men have also disappeared in Colombo, Sri Lanka's main city.

We met another woman who said her husband disappeared when he went to Colombo to get a passport, on 12 January 2007. Unidentified men came to his hotel and bundled him off in a white van.

According to her, during the same period around 30 to 40 other people were abducted in Colombo in a similar manner.

Reports of Tamil men being taken off in this way never to be seen again have become so common on the island that Sri Lankans have nicknamed the phenomenon "white van syndrome."

Sri Lanka's government says many of these stories are false, intended to discredit it and its allies.

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,,IRBC,,LKA,3ae6ac7117,0.html

Sri Lanka: Information on whether the "white van" is related to rape, torture and killing and is connected to the army or police; and on any incidents of "white van" killings in Colombo since 1994

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,,IRBC,,LKA,3ae6ac7117,0.html

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/03/13/fea04.asp

https://sunandadeshapriya.wordpress.com/tag/white-van/

http://www.ttrglobal.com/?p=11965

http://thedipaar.com/news/news.php?id=14070