Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD)
We mark the International Week of the Disappeared (28
May – 02 June) this year amidst the continued commission of enforced
disappearances in no less than 87 countries across continents. The
families of desaparecidos in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste join our
Asian neighbors in giving tribute to the desaparecidos and more
importantly in abhorring the culture of impunity that generally blankets
perpetrators and violators in the region. Too, this year’s
commemoration coincided with an important exercise of the United Nations
Human Rights Council in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of some
Asian States.
It is alarming that in more recent years, Asia has
submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances (UN WGEID) the highest number of persons who are made to
disappear for exercising their rights and for opposing human rights
violations. These and scores of other unreported and undocumented
victims of enforced or involuntary disappearances reflect the stark
reality of human rights protection in the region.
These are also manifested in specific key incidents
of enforced disappearance and allied human rights violations such as the
discovery of AFAD-member Association of Parents of the Disappeared
Persons (APDP) of around “2, 900 unmarked graves in cemeteries of 18
villages near the Line of Control, dividing Kashmir between India and
Pakistan.” The government of India has still to officially respond to
the report on the said mass graves, entitled “Buried Evidence.” 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 as Pakistan was subjected to the “war on terror”
campaign. During the Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste, approximately
186,000 to 250,000 people died and were made to disappear based on a
report of the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission of Timor-Leste.
In view of the massive unresolved cases of the past, the UN WGEID
officially visited the country at the beginning of 2012. The now
independent governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste continually ignored
the recommendations submitted by the Commission.
This hideous reality presents a continuing imperative
that fuels our organizations’ call for the immediate ratification and
universal implementation of the International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention).
A milestone in the struggle against enforced disappearance, the
Convention protects every person’s right against this violation, the
right to know the truth, the right of victims and their families to
reparation and rehabilitation. It equally emphasizes the duties of
States Parties to protect these rights, investigate and bring to justice
the violators, and prevent further commission of enforced disappearance.
While the number of States Parties to the Convention
was enough to lead to its eventual entry into force, the record for
Asian countries is very dismal. To date, only three Asian countries
(Japan, Iraq, Kazakhstan), out of the 32 states, are Staties Parties;
while seven Asian states, out of the 91 states, are signatories to the
Convention.
It is lamentable that, on the one hand, State
authorities, in particular the security forces which have the duty to
defend and protect the people, who commit enforced disappearances do not
own up to the responsibility of their actions. On the other hand, the
disappeared persons, who are tagged “enemies of the State” continue to
suffer deprivation of their basic right to liberty and oftentimes to
life. Moreover, mechanisms and processes of accountability including
court proceedings run snail-paced in most Asian governments.
We, time and again, reiterate the severe and
continuing nature of enforced disappearance for as long as the fate and
whereabouts of the victims remain unknown… for as long as the victims’
families and relatives suffer the recurrent agony of uncertainty and
loss…for as long as this appalling violations of peoples’ rights
continue to occur…and for as long people especially state authorities
continue to harbor with impunity the act and perpetrators of enforced
disappearance.
Opportunities present themselves in the on-going and
parallel campaigns for states’ ratification, enactment of domestic
legislation penalizing enforced disappearance and much-needed reforms in
the region. Indonesia and Thailand are among the few Asian states who
have signed the Convention, with the latter being the latest addition to
the signatories. In the Philippines, we continuously push for the last
stretch of the passage of a domestic law. At the regional level, an
important initiative and opportunity for the civil society is set forth
in the ASEAN Charter is the establishment of the Asian
Inter-governmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR). While the
region-wide body remains up to this date wanting of enabling and
implementing mechanisms, organizations and advocates should remain
vigilant and pro-active in its transformation as they were in its
formation. The on-going UPR cycle, for its part, becomes an important
venue for human rights promotion and protection should States recognize
and implement the recommendations of the review process.
As the international community pays tribute to our
beloved desaparecidos during this week, let it be a strong reminder of
the challenge and opportunities that our organizations in various parts
in Asia face in the struggle for a world without disappeared persons. It
is high time that Asian countries take bold steps in signing and
ratifying the Convention NOW and in enacting a domestic law which will
criminalize enforced or involuntary disappearance. Let the rule of law
protect all human rights for all in Asia and in the whole world.
In solidarity,
