CONGRESS STATEMENT
Fourth AFAD Congress
Jakarta, Indonesia
1-5 June 2010
CONSOLIDATE THE GAINS OF MORE THAN A DECADE OF STRUGGLE:
FACE THE CHALLENGES OF THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE CONVENTION
We, the delegates and participants to the Fourth Congress of the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), with the theme, “Consolidate
the Gains of More than A Decade of Struggle: Face Challenges of the
Entry into Force of the Convention” coming from,
Belarus, Bolivia, Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Timor Leste and Thailand are
gathered together here in Bogor,
Indonesia to celebrate a momentous and historical occasion of reaching
this new milestone in the journey towards a world without
disappearances.
As we hold this Fourth Congress,
we
have collectively
looked
back and weighed our work for the last three years while moving forward
to the future with a collective organizational vow to further develop
our organizational strength and capacity as a regional federation in
order to effectively respond to the challenges of the present times.
Enforced
disappearance is a continuing phenomenon in one hundred countries based
on the 2009 report of UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances (UNWGEID). Many of these cases occur in 27 countries of
Asia, which is the continent that submitted the highest number of cases
to the UNWGEID in recent years. Common to all of these countries is the
prevailing impunity that allows perpetrators to escape accountability.
While
the
uncertainty of the victims’ fate inflicts untold sufferings and
immeasurable pain on both the disappeared victims and their families,
most of the cases that have taken place
over decades in the region have not been seriously investigated and the
fate and whereabouts of victims remain unknown.
In Timor
Leste, approximately 186,000 to
250,000 people died and made to disappear during the Indonesian
occupation of Timor Leste based on report of the Truth, Reparation and
Reconciliation Commission of Timor-Leste, entitled, “Chega!”
But after
achieving the independence in 1999,
both the
Indonesian and Timor Leste governments have continually ignored the
recommendations submitted by the Commission on Truth and Friendship and
the continuing cry of victims’ families for justice.
The release of indicted militia leader
Martenus Bere who is suspected to be one of those responsible for the
past atrocities is not only an insult to the families and survivors but
also a breach to the spirit of friendship and reconciliation. An
AFAD lobby group met Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta on 25
November 2009, in Dili, Timor Leste. The president made a clear
commitment that he would undertake all efforts to sign and ratify this
international treaty before the end of 2009. He noted that had he been
alerted earlier, the government of Timor-Leste could have already been a
state party.
In war-torn area of Jammu and Kashmir, around 8,000 people disappeared
since the onset of armed conflict across
the state in 1989, who are generally attributed to Indian
security forces. The Association of Parents of the Disappearad Persons (APDP)
has recently found more or less 2, 900 unmarked graves in cemeteries of
18 villages near the Line of Control, dividing Kashmir between India and
Pakistan. Families believed that their disappeared relatives could have
ended up in these unmarked graves. The government of India has
still to officially respond to the report on the said mass graves,
entitled “ Buried Evidence,” which was presented to the Indian
government on 2 December 2009.
In
Indonesia, human rights is still a major
concern that needs to be immediately addressed particularly the impunity
for past abuses including cases of enforced disappearance, the slow pace
of military reform, and lack of investigations on the atrocities in Aceh
and Papua. The unresolved murder of Munir Said Thalib, Indonesia’s most
prominent human rights lawyer and former AFAD Chairperson, who was
killed by
arsenic poisoning in a Garuda flight from Singapore to Amsterdam, on 7
September 2004 continuously undermines
the rule of law with the acquittal of Major General (ret.) Muchdi
Purwopranjono. The Commission on Inquiry of the Disappearances that is
investigating the case of 13 Indonesian Activists of 1997 -1998 came up
with a four-point recommendation to President Sucilo Bambang Yudhoyono
as a result of the meeting with human rights organizations which include
the establishment of the Adhoc Human Rights Court; the
undertaking of appropriate steps to immediately locate the whereabouts
of 13 people cited as still missing by Komnas Ham; the
rehabilitation and satisfactory compensation to victims and/or the
families of the disappeared; and the signing and ratification of the UN
Convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance.
In Nepal, hundreds of enforced
disappearances took place during the ten year conflict between the
government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M)
which ended in 2006 by both parties signing the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement. However, the cases of disappearance remain unresolved up to
this day despite efforts of Nepali government to institute some legal
reforms. The draft bill for the establishment of a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission was strongly opposed by civil society, for it
allows granting of amnesties to the perpetrators. The same is true with
the anti-disappearance bill which was approved in a form of an
ordinance but was retracted following clamors of foul play by the
national and international human rights organizations.
In
Pakistan, thousands of persons have been subjected to enforced
disappearance, mostly from Balochistan province and from the North
Western Frontier Province, Sindh and Punjab. The number of cases has
sharply increased since Pakistan joined the “war on terror” campaign.
Still, as a result of the constant protests and petitions in courts by
families of the disappeared, and with the clear resolve on the part of
the Supreme Court by issuing orders to the military to produce the
detainees before the courts, the government has finally acknowledged the
custody of dozens of alleged terror suspects, but in most cases, the
intelligence agencies continue to defy these judicial orders in the name
of national security.
In the
Philippines, more than 2,000 people are victims of enforced
disappearance since the dark days of martial law up to the present.
Disappearances are mostly carried out as a result of the
counter-insurgency operations of the government against the communist
and secessionist groups. Although,
the number of cases of disappearances had dropped significantly in 2007,
the political persecution against known progressive and opposition
leaders by slapping them with trumped-up criminal charges, continues
unabated. Impunity still
holds sway
as the Philippine government has
failed
to pass a domestic legislation penalizing enforced
disappearance and neglects its voluntary pledge to the UN Human Rights
Council stating that it would sign and ratify the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances. The government has still to positively respond to the
2007 request of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances to visit the country and to implement the latter’s
recommendations during its first visit in 1990.
In
Thailand, enforced disappearance
continues unabated. The recent escalation of political violence in
central district of Bangkok between the police forces and the Red-Shirt
protesters and the ongoing military operations in southern provinces are
feared to have resulted in more cases of disappearances. While recent
cases have not been fully investigated by the authority, the
perpetrators of past human rights violations particularly the military
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok in May 1992 remain
unpunished. The unresolved disappearance case of Atty. Somchai
Neelaphajit, a human rights lawyer who disappeared in Bangkok in 2004
also continues to be a litmus test to the Thai judicial system.
Recognizing the bleak reality of human rights in Asia, where no country
has a domestic law criminalizing enforced disappearance and a
strong and effective regional mechanism for human
rights protection, we deem it imperative to have a universal
legally binding instrument which contains an agreed definition of the
crime of enforced disappearance and establishes state obligations with
regard to its prevention, investigation and repression.
The
International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced
Disappearance is
an effective tool to
help
strengthen governments' capacities to combat enforced disappearances,
punish the perpetrators and guarantee justice and redress to victims and
their families. To date, 83 states
have already signed and 18 States have ratified the Convention and that
only two more ratifications are lacking for the treaty’s entry into
force.
As we
continue with this arduous journey, we
closely link arms in solidarity with our brothers and sisters
in Latin
America,
Africa and Europe by transcending
regional boundaries and cultural differences in order to learn for each
other’s experiences, establish mutual support and cooperation and work
together at the international level under the umbrella of the
International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) in
pushing for the immediate entry into force of the Convention.
As we also
commemorate our 12th founding anniversary, we pay tribute to
the great men and women who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the
disappeared. Their contribution to our struggle has deeply inspired us
to endlessly serve as the regional voice of the victims and their
families. With this inspiration, we persistently resonate the call to
all States to undertake all possible means to prevent and eradicate the
heinous practice of enforced disappearance and to bring to justice all
those who believed to be responsible for the crime; refrain from any act
of intimidation or reprisals against human rights defenders who
contribute to the prevention of this practice; and to combat impunity.
We therefore strongly urge Asian and other governments to promote,
protect and fulfill the Asian peoples’ rights and welfare by taking
these following measures:
1.
To vigorously, thoroughly and impartially investigate cases of
enforced disappearances that occurred in the past and continuously
happening up to this day and to work at all cost so that truth shall be
ferreted out, perpetrators be brought to justice and reparation to
victims be provided;
2.
To pass a domestic law penalizing the act of enforced
disappearance as a distinct criminal offense;
3.
To repeal draconian laws in the disputed state of Jammu and
Kashmir that grant unchecked powers to security forces to commit human
rights abuses and to conduct proper investigation on the recently
discovered mass graves of 2,900 people in the north of Kashmir as stated
in the report, “Buried Evidence”;
4.
To expedite the process of establishing an independent and
credible
Commission
on Disappearance in Indonesia, Timor Leste as mandated by the Commission
on Truth and Friendship and to establish a Tribunal on Crimes Against
Humanity for Timor Leste;
5.
To resolve enforced disappearances cases in Belarus during the
late ‘90s and to promote and protect human rights of the Belarusian
people;
6.
To
expedite the process of establishing an independent and credible
Commission on Truth and Reconciliation in Nepal and Indonesia;
7.
To resolve
gross violations of human rights committed during the 4 June 1989
Tiananmen massacre and stop all forms of repression in China;
8.
To support
the struggle of Judge Baltasar Garzon for the search for justice for the
families of Spain and other parts of the world;
9.
To sign and ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances without further delay.
Finally,
with one voice and one spirit, linking arms with our sisters and
brothers in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Euro- Mediterranean
countries, reaffirm our firm resolve to
implement the specific resolutions of this 4th Congress and
be true to its theme. We once again renew our unwavering commitment in
the struggle for the eradication of enforced disappearance and to
endlessly work for the attainment of truth, justice, reparation and the
reconstruction of the historical memory of desaparecidos not only
in Asian region but all over the world.
SIGNED BY THE DELEGATES AND PARTICIPANTS of the AFAD’s Fourth Congress
on 1-5 June 2010 in Bogor, Indonesia
For further information, please contact:
MUGIYANTO
Chairperson
081399825960
