In Sri Lanka, if a loved one goes missing, the only recourse available to most families is to file a complaint at the nearest Police station. The process that follows is filled with paperwork, waiting and uncertainty. There is no central, publicly accessible database to track missing persons in the general society, although several mechanisms are available to investigate missing persons in the context of the war and in instances of abduction and kidnapping. There is no coordinated national framework to share information, and no clear system that brings together the Police, the hospitals, the media and the public to find those who have disappeared.
This is more than a bureaucratic gap; it is a humanitarian failure. In an era where information can be shared in seconds, Sri Lanka’s lack of a national missing persons registry accessible to the public leaves countless families in an emotional crisis, particularly as the country faces new social realities, i.e. an ageing population and rising poverty.
The process today is painfully simple and deeply inadequate. A person is considered missing only after a certain number of hours without contact. The family then reports the disappearance to the Police by filing a complaint and the Police then begin an investigation. But, beyond this point, there is no systematic method of sharing that information with the public. The details remain within local Police stations, sometimes trickling into a newspaper article or a brief media mention.
As Sri Lanka’s population ages, this situation is likely to become common. The country’s elderly population is increasing steadily, while economic stress is straining the ability of families to take care of ageing parents or relatives. Many elderly people live alone, sometimes in rural isolation, sometimes in overcrowded urban homes where care is scarce. In this context, disappearances, whether due to illness, confusion or neglect, are not rare. Yet, when an elderly person wanders away or goes missing, the odds of finding them are slim unless their story happens to reach social media or media institutions.
More troubling is the rising instances of elderly abandonment. As poverty intensifies and caretaking becomes burdensome, there have been reports of families leaving their elderly relatives in hospitals, bus stations or temples. Without a national system to track missing adults or coordinate search efforts, these individuals fade from the record. This situation contrasts with practices in many other countries. In some countries, centralised databases for missing persons exist, some open to the public and others limited to law enforcement and social service agencies. These systems not only record cases but also facilitate the rapid sharing of information across Police jurisdictions, hospitals, the transport authorities and media networks. Alerts, whether on television, online or through community networks, mobilise the public’s eyes and ears to assist in locating the missing.
However, in Sri Lanka, such a system is long overdue. The Police, despite occasional modernisation efforts, still operate within outdated frameworks. There is little digital infrastructure to connect cases between Districts, and even less transparency in how missing persons investigations are handled.
Outside of the war-era discourse on abductions and disappearances, there has been almost no public discourse about ordinary citizens who go missing due to age, illness or family breakdown. These are the ‘neglected missing’, whose disappearances don’t make headlines, whose names are never remembered, and whose families often suffer quietly.
The creation of a national missing persons database would be a significant step toward addressing this neglect. Such a platform could serve several functions, I.e. an online record accessible to the public, a tool for Police coordination across regions, and a mechanism for cooperation between hospitals, the social services, media institutions, and community organisations. It would also enable data-driven policymaking, helping identify trends such as areas with high rates of missing elderly or vulnerable persons, and inform targeted interventions.
This is not an impossible task. The technology exists and so does the need. What is lacking is political and institutional will.
As Sri Lanka is entering into an ageing society and is already in increasing economic hardship, it cannot afford to ignore those who quietly vanish. A coordinated national framework, supported by technology and compassion, can give hope to countless families.