Foreword

This chronicle of the proceedings of the First Conference on Enforced Disappearance of Asian and Latin American Lawyers, which was sponsored by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) in Jakarta, Indonesia from 27 November to 02 December 2000, is of overriding import for the following reasons:

First, it underscores the global character of the heinous crime known worldwide as involuntary disappearance;

Second, it stresses the critical need for global and regional cooperation in preventing incidence of enforced disappearance and seeking ultimate justice for the victims and their families;

Third, it emphasizes the indispensable role of lawyers in the continuing campaign for justice for desaparecidos wherever the crime was perpetrated;

Fourth, it challenges all governments, whether democratic or despotic, to accord abiding respect for the human rights of their citizens by adopting national laws and international conventions for the protection and promotion of human rights;

Fifth, it urges all peoples to actively join the crusade against human rights violations; and

Sixth, it calls for the end of impunity to human rights transgressions, particularly cases of involuntary disappearance which is the worst kind of human rights violation.

We should never allow the memory of the disappeared to be blemished by impunity and their lives unredeemed due to elusive justice.

This chronicle will serve as a genuine memorial to countless desaparecidos when at the end of a long struggle, justice is achieve for the lives they have selflessly and heroically forfeited.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN
Chairperson
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
(AFAD)