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Statements of AFAD
AFAD FOURTH
CONGRESS
1-5 June 2010
AFAD Second Congress
Remembering Munir
AFAD Second Congress
August 26-30, 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand
AFAD’s Mid-Year Report
Ding Zilin's
Message To
Hong Kong
Again, The KONTRAS – IKOHI Office Was Attacked
“ If they are dead, tell us”!
My sons, where are they? |
AFAD STATEMENT ON THE VISIT OF THE UNWGEID
TO TIMOR LESTE
10 February 2011 - The Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances
(AFAD) lauds the on-going
visit of the United Nations Working on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances to Timor Leste. The visit
which started on the
7th of February and would end on the 14th of the month, occurs aptly
after
more than
a month of the entry into force of the International Convention
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances on 23
December 2010. Earlier scheduled in December 2010 but postponed to
early
2011, the visit is hoped to bring about justice and peace in this
country
which, for more than a couple of decades from 1975-1999, was seeking for
independence from the Indonesian occupation resulting in
untold killings and
enforced disappearances of millions of civilians.
According to the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission of
Timor
Leste, there are 18,600 death
tolls and enforced disappearances during the
war from 1974-1999. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC)
reports of 2,500 victims of enforced disappearances during the period.
The
HAK
Association of Timor Leste, a member-organization of AFAD, reports that
most of these disappearances occurred between 1975 to 1983.
In the November 2009 visit of AFAD to Timor Leste, we have learned that
most
of the people whom we had
spoken to, including those from government
agencies, have loved ones victimized by enforced
disappearances. In a
meeting of the AFAD and the Latin American Federation of Associations of
Relatives
of Disappeared-Detainees (*FEDEFAM)* with His Excellency President
Ramos-Horta, no less than the
president of the country shared that he has a
disappeared brother.
For most if not all of the victims of enforced disappearances, truth
remains
unveiled and justice is far from
being meted out. In a visit that we had
with some victims of the Sta. Cruz massacre in Liquiza, the victims
whom we
met expressed their profound frustration over the absence of truth and
justice and the prevailing
of the atmosphere of impunity and continued to
look forward to the realization of their much-cherished
dream for a just and
lasting peace.
This on-going visit of the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances of
the
United Nations is expected to
ferret out the truth of enforced
disappearances in the country based on which, concrete recommendations
are
expected which would pave the way to the resolution of cases.
The AFAD takes this opportunity to request the UN Working Group on
Enforced
or Involuntary
Disappearances to appeal to the Government of Timor Leste to
expedite the fulfillment of the promise of
President Ramos Horta to AFAD and
to *FEDEFAM *that his government would sign and ratify the
International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons From Enforced
Disappearance. The
fulfillment of
the promise will indeed help pave the way towards the
eventual attainment of a just and lasting peace in
this blood-stained
country.
Finally, the AFAD believes that the voices of the victims and civil
society
organizations have to be heard and
their recommendations be taken serious
consideration. Thus, in this vein, AFAD encourages them to fully
cooperate with the Working Group in our common endeavor to erase
enforced
disappearances from the
face of the earth.
The desaparecidos and their families and the rest of the
population of
Timor Leste deserve no less than truth, justice, redress and the
reconstruction of the historical memory.
Signed:
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MUGIYANTO |
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO |
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Chairperson |
Secretary-General |
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