RESOLUTION No. 2000-4
URGING STATES TO PROVIDE REPARATION TO VICTIMS
OF INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES AND THEIR FAMILIES

WHEREAS it is a known fact and is widely recognized that majority of the victims of involuntary disappearances are either the heads of the family or “breadwinners” of their families;

WHEREAS it cannot be denied that the victims of involuntary disappearances and their families suffer not only physical and emotional pain but likewise suffer loss of adequate means by which to survive;

WHEREAS the State and its agents should be primarily liable to provide adequate means by which victims of involuntary disappearances and their families could recover from the horrors they have experienced;

WHEREAS, taking into account also the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on the 25th of June 1993;

WHEREAS, taking note of the efforts at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the elaboration of the Draft Guidelines on the Right to Restitution for victims of gross human rights violations;

WHEREAS, wishing to increase the effectiveness of the struggle against forced or involuntary disappearances of persons throughout the world;

WHEREAS, bearing in mind the obligation of States under the Charter, in particular Article 55, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms;

WHEREAS, taking into account the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations;

WHEREAS, recognizing that forced disappearance violates the right to life or puts it in grave danger or denies individuals the protection of law;

WHEREAS, considering that forced disappearance undermines the deepest values of any society committed to the respect of the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, and that the systematic or widespread practice of such acts constitutes a crime against humanity;

WHEREAS, reparation does not constitute an abandonment of the responsibility to continue the search for the disappeared;

AND WHEREAS a call to States all over the world to lend help and support to the victims and their families.

Now therefore be it Resolved that as it is hereby Resolved that:

1. For the purposes of this Conference, forced or involuntary disappearance is considered to be a deprivation of a person’s liberty, in whatever form or for whatever reason, brought about by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by an absence of information, or refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or information, or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person;

2. All States shall guarantee, in all circumstances, the right to reparation for the harm caused to the victims of forced disappearance and their families;

3. For the purposes of this Conference, the right to reparation comprises restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and the restoration of honor and reputation of the victims of the offense of forced disappearance. The rehabilitation of victims of forced disappearance shall be physical and psychological as well as professional and legal.

4. The members of AFAD and the participants of the Asian and Latin American Lawyers’ Meeting on Involuntary Disappearances urge and move States to annually appropriate funds from their budgets to provide adequate and reasonable compensation to victims of Involuntary Disappearances and their families to afford them an opportunity to recover from the sufferings they have and are still experiencing.

APPROVED on this 30th day of November 2000 at Jakarta, Indonesia.




Attested by:


Signed :

MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary General