AFAD Statement
2015 International Day of the Disappeared

August 30, 2015 – Since the establishment of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) in 1998, it has been commemorating the International Day of the Disappeared every 30th of each year. This was first commemorated by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) for many years and adopted by similar formations in other parts of the world. As enforced disappearances reached global proportions, in 2011, the United Nations officially declared this day as the International Day of the Disappeared.

Today, AFAD pays tribute to the thousands of disappeared people in Asia and the world over, who, with their families and relatives, are AFAD’s reason for existence. As a form of tribute to the desaparecidos of the world, the International Day of the Disappeared commemoration, conducted in various forms by AFAD member-organizations, aims to raise the awareness on the phenomenon of enforced disappearance and to obtain concrete results of the struggle to attain the vision of a world without desaparecidos. On this occasion, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances reiterates its strong solidarity with the families of the disappeared in many different ways. In a special way, AFAD remembers all desaparecidos, some of whom are prominent names, such as those of Sombath Somphone of Laos; Jonas Burgos of the Philippines; Subarna Paudel of Nepal; Mushtaq Ahmad Khan of Jammu and Kashmir; Somchai Neelaphaijit of Thailand; Masood of Pakistan; Nurul Amin of Bangladesh; Wiji Thukul of Indonesia; Hwang Won of South Korea and Prageeth Eknaligoda of Sri Lanka. The names are many. The litany is long. Each disappeared person has a name, a life, a family.

The disappeared people are not cold figures but lives lost due to enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance is a violation of civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights. The violated rights of both the direct victims and their families are multiple. Society is deprived of the services the disappeared persons could have rendered further. Social fabric is torn apart by enforced disappearance. The devastation it causes to the family, community and greater society is almost beyond reparation.

In its 106th session, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances examines almost 400 cases of enforced disappearances from 30 countries, including recent ones and updated information on previous cases. Reportedly as of 2014, a total of 43,250 cases from 88 countries were under active consideration by the UN. Not to mention the huge problem of underreporting, the statistics show how serious a problem enforced disappearance has become, which compelled the United Nations to establish a strong treaty against enforced disappearances with a strong human rights mechanisms for protection.

The world’s largest continent, Asia has the highest number of cases reported to the UN : Sri Lanka, 5,676; India, 353; Timor Leste, 428; Philippines, 625; Thailand, 71; Indonesia, 163; Cambodia, 1; Lao PDR, 2; Myanmar, 2; Pakistan, 99; Bangladesh, 29; Nepal, 458; Kashmir, 8,000+; North Korea, 20, and; China, 30. The figures represent the tip of the iceberg vis-à-vis the actual number of cases, since families and witnesses are fearful of reprisals from state authorities.

With this huge number of reported cases, ironically, in Asia, only four countries – Japan, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Cambodia, have so far ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (Convention) and only Japan has recognized the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances on inter-state complaints, but not on individual cases. Indonesia, which actively participated in the drafting and negotiation of the Convention from 2003-2005 at the UN in Geneva, was one of the first Southeast Asian governments to sign it on 27 September 2010 and Thailand followed on 9 January 2012. While the Philippines is the first and only country that has a domestic law against enforced disappearance, i.e. Republic Act 10353, defining and penalizing enforced or involuntary disappearance, with many provisions similar to those in the Convention, it has not yet signed and ratified the Convention which could have complemented the existing domestic law.

The central role of the families of the disappeared, hand in hand with the indispensable support of civil society, is crucial in the gargantuan task of attaining AFAD’s vision for a world without desaparecidos. With the high number of past unresolved cases; and the continuing cases that occur especially in South Asian countries, coupled with the persecution of human rights defenders working on enforced disappearance and the absence of national and regional mechanisms for protection, uphill, indeed is the struggle for a world without desaparecidos. AFAD, however is convinced that a world without desaparecidos is possible.

On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, AFAD renews its commitment to all the desaparecidos of the world and their families in the search for truth, justice, reparation, memory and non-repetition.

Finally, AFAD reiterates its call to governments in Asia to ratify the Convention on Enforced Disappearances and enact domestic laws criminalizing enforced disappearances; recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances; investigate cases of enforced disappearances; bring perpetrators to justice and provide full support for reparation, rehabilitation, reconstruction of the historical memory of the disappeared and guarantees of non-recurrence.