Sri Lanka faced sustained scrutiny in Geneva as the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) concluded its first examination of the island’s record under the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance last week, Tamil Guardian reported. Experts welcomed the transposition of the Convention into domestic law but raised pointed questions about arbitrary detentions, “short-term” disappearances, intimidation of victims’ families and long-standing impunity. “The families of victims of enforced disappearance were reportedly threatened with intimidation or surveillance by the State and, in some cases, police had refused to accept complaints,” she said. Villa Quintana asked about the preservation of remains, DNA databases and whether Sri Lanka had sought international assistance for exhumations, noting reports of sites in the North-East and the long-running Chemmani case. On Chemmani, they said “remains were ready for forensic investigations or exhumations,” and added that five Army personnel had been arrested in connection with bodies recovered there.