How can we lobby governments to recognize the
importance of the instrument by signing and ratifying the Convention?
1. Help educate the public by informing them about the reality of enforced
disappearances and the importance of the Convention in securing safeguards
for human rights. Within organizations, it will be beneficial to discuss
the issue among people within our respective organizational structures as
well as assist in distributing campaign materials, i.e. primers,
pamphlets, posters, etc.
2. Conduct trainings among various groups, especially
among the media and the academe on the contents of the Convention and in
the aspects of campaigning and lobbying, which shall produce experts among
selected participants to echo such trainings to more groups and sectors.
3. Assist in strengthening media work to further
project the issue to a greater audience.
4. Popularize technical information materials about
enforced disappearance and the Convention.
5. Translate information materials from English to
other languages and vice versa so that more people will be able to read
and understand the issue.
6. Seek opportunities to lobby among heads of States, parliaments and
other government officials or ministers who are influential in deciding
for the Convention’s ratification.
Note: It can be very helpful to conduct a study on the
attitudes of the different governments concerning human rights in general
and the Convention in particular. Results of the study will give a better
understanding of the governments’ position vis- -vis human rights.
Consequently, it will provide more direction to the campaign and lobby
plans and make the strategies and tactics of the organization sharper and
more effective.
The study can also cull the lessons from the various
realities people face in different parts or regions of the world.
Considering these lessons in the planning processes will further
contribute to the effectiveness of the international campaign against
disappearances and impunity to achieve a world free from enforced
disappearances.