25. Interpretation

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

“effective authority and control” means the power to issue orders to subordinates and the capacity to ensure compliance with such orders;

“deprivation of liberty” means the confinement of a person to a particular place, where such person does not consent to that confinement;

“Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka”

means the Human Rights Commission of

Sri Lanka, established by the Human Rights

Commission of Sri Lanka Act, No. 21 of 1996;

“law enforcement authority” means a police officer or any other person or institution authorized by or under any written law to investigate into the commission of an offence;

“secret detention” means circumstances in which a person is held in a place that is not a place of detention authorized by or under any written law, and where the whereabouts or fate of the person are not known to his relatives or others;

“victim” means the disappeared person and any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance.

International Convention for the Protection of

All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

Act, No. 5 of 2018