MR RAFENDI DJAMIN
Chairperson
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
Jakarta, Indonesia
Dear Mr. Chairperson,
Warm greetings!
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances (AFAD), a regional federation of human rights
organizations working directly on the issue enforced disappearances from
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Timor-Leste would like to congratulate you, for your great contribution
to the protection of human rights in the region. Our Federation is also
the Focal Point of the International Coalition Against Enforced
Disappearances (CAED), which is a global coalition of 40
member-organizations campaigning for the ratification of the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances (the Convention). As we are concluding our 2011 Council
meeting, we deem it appropriate to address you with regard to the
scourge of enforced disappearances in our region. As we all know, such
violations continue to take place throughout the continent affecting
thousands of people and their families. As underlined by the UN Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in its last annual
report, Asia has submitted the highest number of cases.
The establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental
Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is a much-awaited development to
which we watch with optimism and from which we expect sound support in
the prevention and suppression of enforced disappearances. In this
sense, the AFAD calls on the AICHR to refer to the practice of enforced
disappearance in the ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights, highlighting
that it is one of the worst forms of human rights violations. As stated
by the 1992 UN Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance, it is a grave and flagrant violation of the
human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which inflicts severe suffering on victims
and their families. It constitutes a violation of the rules of
international law guaranteeing, among others, the right to recognition
as a person before the law, the right to liberty and security of the
person and the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It also violates or
constitutes a grave threat to the right to life. In fact, the recently
entered into force Convention affirms the non-derogable right of all
persons not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.
Enforced disappearances persist in many Asian
countries and families of victims are in a situation between hope and
despair. Hence, we call on AICHR to take the necessary measures to
ensure the resolution of past cases of enforced disappearances in the
Member-States and to guarantee prevention and non-repetition. And for
this reason, it is important that the ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights
makes reference to this international crime and spells out the
obligations of States to prevent and eradicate this practice,
guaranteeing to the victims the right to justice and redress.
We would also like to urge you to call on ASEAN
States Parties to ratify without further delay the Convention and to
recognize the competence of the newly established Committee on Enforced
Disappearances (CED) to receive and examine individual and inter-state
communications.
Finally, we look forward to an active engagement with
you through a constructive and fruitful dialogue with the AICHR as it
continues to respond to the human rights situation in Southeast Asia.
Thank you very much.
Respectfully yours,
