A/HRC/22/38 26. In its statement on its review during the fourteenth session of the universal periodic review, the Government stated that the Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 19 of 2010 envisages the issuance of death certificates to next of kin and the families of the missing to claim monies due to them. Noting this Act, the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts, in its report, stated, however, that: Issuance of a death certificate following an administrative process is not a substitute for a bona fide investigation into the circumstances of an individual’s death, which meets international standards. It is also crucial to ensure that a relative’s acceptance of a death certificate does not lock the individual into a definitive legal position that precludes any further legal recourse in the future. 17 27. Regarding enforced disappearances, the Commission recommended that a special commissioner of investigation be appointed and supported by experienced investigators to investigate alleged disappearances and to provide the Attorney General with material for further action (para. 9.51). Although the Government incorporated this recommendation into the national plan of action, it did not commit to the establishment of a new mechanism and has opted to rely primarily on the existing system as provided in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which to date has failed to resolve such cases. The Government also reported that a working committee had been appointed, led by a deputy inspector general, to respond to cases of disappearances and to conduct ground verifications of such cases to ascertain their current status. 28. The Commission strongly recommended that domestic legislation be framed to specifically criminalize enforced disappearances (para. 9.59), which the Government undertook in the national plan of action to examine. It should be noted that the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (in 1999), the Human Rights Committee (in 2003) and the Committee against Torture (in 2011) all recommended that Sri Lanka criminalize disappearances.18 At its review during the second session of the universal periodic review, the Government of Sri Lanka also accepted recommendations to “adopt measures to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for serious human rights crimes such as enforced disappearances, in accordance with international norms and in a transparent manner.” 29. Concerted action on this issue is particularly critical given the continuing recurrence of cases of enforced disappearance since the end of the armed conflict. As at November 2012, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances had 5,676 cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance in Sri Lanka still outstanding. At the fourteenth session of the universal periodic review, the Government pointed out that more than 4,000 of the said cases related to the pre-1990 period, while another 1,089 belonged to the period between 1991 and 2005. The Government added that an inter-agency mechanism was being established to clear the backlog of cases with the Working Group;19 however, the period from the last quarter of 2011 to mid-2012 witnessed new reports of abductions and disappearances, including of political activists,20 as well as politicians and their family members.21 During that period, there were also reported cases of abducted persons being 17 18 19 20 21 Report of the Panel of Experts, paras. 392 and 395. E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1, para. 63; CCPR/CO/79/LKA, para. 10; CAT/C/LKA/CO/3-4, para. 9. In the past two years, the Government has provided responses on 159 cases for consideration by the Working Group. Affiliated with the Frontline Socialist Party, previously the People’s Struggle Movement. The Urban Council Chairman of Kolonnawa, his brother, the brother-in-law of a Government minister and the son of a former provincial councillor. 9