CONGRESS STATEMENT
Fourth AFAD Congress
Jakarta, Indonesia
1-5 June 2010
CONSOLIDATE THE GAINS OF MORE THAN A DECADE OF STRUGGLE:
FACE THE CHALLENGES OF THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE CONVENTION
We, the delegates and participants to the Fourth Congress of the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), with the theme, “Consolidate
the Gains of More than A Decade of Struggle: Face Challenges of the
Entry into Force of the Convention” coming from,
Belarus, Bolivia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Timor
Leste and Thailand are gathered together
here in Bogor, Indonesia to celebrate a momentous and historical
occasion of reaching this new milestone in the journey towards a world
without disappearances.
As we hold this Fourth Congress,
we have collectively
looked back and weighed our work for the last three years while moving
forward to the future with a collective organizational vow to further
develop our organizational strength and capacity as a regional
federation in order to effectively respond to the challenges of the
present times.
Enforced disappearance is a continuing phenomenon in one hundred
countries based on the 2009 report of UN Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID). Many of these cases occur in 27
countries of Asia, which is the continent that submitted the highest
number of cases to the UNWGEID in recent years. Common to all of these
countries is the prevailing impunity that allows perpetrators to escape
accountability. While
the uncertainty of the victims’ fate inflicts
untold sufferings and immeasurable pain on both the disappeared victims
and their families,
most of the cases that have taken place over
decades in the region have not been seriously investigated and the fate
and whereabouts of victims remain unknown.
In Timor Leste, approximately
186,000 to 250,000 people died and made to disappear during the
Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste based on report of the Truth,
Reparation and Reconciliation Commission of Timor-Leste, entitled, “Chega!”
But after achieving the independence in 1999,
both the Indonesian and Timor Leste governments have continually ignored
the recommendations submitted by the Commission on Truth and Friendship
and the continuing cry of victims’ families for justice.
The release of indicted militia leader
Martenus Bere who is suspected to be one of those responsible for the
past atrocities is not only an insult to the families and survivors but
also a breach to the spirit of friendship and reconciliation. An
AFAD lobby group met Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta on 25
November 2009, in Dili, Timor Leste. The president made a clear
commitment that he would undertake all efforts to sign and ratify this
international treaty before the end of 2009. He noted that had he been
alerted earlier, the government of Timor-Leste could have already been a
state party.
In war-torn area of Jammu and Kashmir, around 8,000 people
disappeared since the onset of armed
conflict across the state in 1989, who are generally attributed
to Indian security forces. The Association of Parents of the Disappearad
Persons (APDP) has recently found more or less 2, 900 unmarked graves in
cemeteries of 18 villages near the Line of Control, dividing Kashmir
between India and Pakistan. Families believed that their disappeared
relatives could have ended up in these unmarked graves. The
government of India has still to officially respond to the report on the
said mass graves, entitled “ Buried Evidence,” which was presented to
the Indian government on 2 December 2009.
In Indonesia, human rights is still a
major concern that needs to be immediately addressed particularly the
impunity for past abuses including cases of enforced disappearance, the
slow pace of military reform, and lack of investigations on the
atrocities in Aceh and Papua. The unresolved murder of Munir Said Thalib,
Indonesia’s most prominent human rights lawyer and former AFAD
Chairperson, who was
killed by arsenic poisoning in a Garuda flight from Singapore to
Amsterdam, on 7 September 2004
continuously undermines the rule of law with the acquittal
of Major General (ret.) Muchdi
Purwopranjono. The Commission on Inquiry of the Disappearances that is
investigating the case of 13 Indonesian Activists of 1997 -1998 came up
with a four-point recommendation to President Sucilo Bambang Yudhoyono
as a result of the meeting with human rights organizations which include
the establishment of the Adhoc Human Rights Court; the
undertaking of appropriate steps to immediately locate the whereabouts
of 13 people cited as still missing by Komnas Ham; the
rehabilitation and satisfactory compensation to victims and/or the
families of the disappeared; and the signing and ratification of the UN
Convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance.
In Nepal, hundreds of enforced
disappearances took place during the ten year conflict between the
government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M)
which ended in 2006 by both parties signing the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement. However, the cases of disappearance remain unresolved up to
this day despite efforts of Nepali government to institute some legal
reforms. The draft bill for the establishment of a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission was strongly opposed by civil society, for it
allows granting of amnesties to the perpetrators. The same is true with
the anti-disappearance bill which was approved in a form of an
ordinance but was retracted following clamors of foul play by the
national and international human rights organizations.
In Pakistan,
thousands of persons have been subjected to enforced disappearance,
mostly from Balochistan province and from the North Western Frontier
Province, Sindh and Punjab. The number of cases has sharply increased
since Pakistan joined the “war on terror” campaign. Still, as a result
of the constant protests and petitions in courts by families of the
disappeared, and with the clear resolve on the part of the Supreme Court
by issuing orders to the military to produce the detainees before the
courts, the government has finally acknowledged the custody of dozens of
alleged terror suspects, but in most cases, the intelligence agencies
continue to defy these judicial orders in the name of national security.
In the
Philippines, more than 2,000 people are victims of enforced
disappearance since the dark days of martial law up to the present.
Disappearances are mostly carried out as a result of the
counter-insurgency operations of the government against the communist
and secessionist groups. Although,
the number of cases of disappearances had dropped significantly in 2007,
the political persecution against known progressive and opposition
leaders by slapping them with trumped-up criminal charges, continues
unabated. Impunity still
holds sway
as the Philippine government has
failed
to pass a domestic legislation penalizing enforced
disappearance and neglects its voluntary pledge to the UN Human Rights
Council stating that it would sign and ratify the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances. The government has still to positively respond to the
2007 request of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances to visit the country and to implement the latter’s
recommendations during its first visit in 1990.
In Thailand, enforced disappearance
continues unabated. The recent escalation of political violence in
central district of Bangkok between the police forces and the Red-Shirt
protesters and the ongoing military operations in southern provinces are
feared to have resulted in more cases of disappearances. While recent
cases have not been fully investigated by the authority, the
perpetrators of past human rights violations particularly the military
crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok in May 1992 remain
unpunished. The unresolved disappearance case of Atty. Somchai
Neelaphajit, a human rights lawyer who disappeared in Bangkok in 2004
also continues to be a litmus test to the Thai judicial system.
Recognizing the bleak reality of human rights in Asia, where no
country has a domestic law criminalizing enforced disappearance and a
strong and effective regional mechanism for human
rights protection, we deem it imperative to have a universal
legally binding instrument which contains an agreed definition of the
crime of enforced disappearance and establishes state obligations with
regard to its prevention, investigation and repression.
The
International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced
Disappearance is
an effective tool to
help strengthen governments' capacities to combat enforced
disappearances, punish the perpetrators and guarantee justice and
redress to victims and their families. To
date, 83 states have already signed and 18 States have ratified
the Convention and that only two more ratifications are lacking for the
treaty’s entry into force.
As we continue with this arduous journey, we closely link arms in solidarity with our
brothers and sisters
in Latin
America,
Africa and Europe by transcending
regional boundaries and cultural differences in order to learn for each
other’s experiences, establish mutual support and cooperation and work
together at the international level under the umbrella of the
International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) in
pushing for the immediate entry into force of the Convention.
As we also commemorate our 12th founding anniversary, we
pay tribute to the great men and women who sacrificed their lives for
the cause of the disappeared. Their contribution to our struggle has
deeply inspired us to endlessly serve as the regional voice of the
victims and their families. With this inspiration, we persistently
resonate the call
to all States to undertake all possible means to
prevent and eradicate the heinous practice of enforced disappearance and
to bring to justice all those who believed to be responsible for the
crime; refrain from any act of intimidation or reprisals against human
rights defenders who contribute to the prevention of this practice; and
to combat impunity.
We therefore strongly urge Asian and other governments to
promote, protect and fulfill the Asian peoples’ rights and welfare by
taking these following measures:
-
To vigorously, thoroughly and impartially
investigate cases of enforced disappearances that occurred in the past
and continuously happening up to this day and to work at all cost so
that truth shall be ferreted out, perpetrators be brought to justice
and reparation to victims be provided;
-
To pass a domestic law penalizing the act of
enforced disappearance as a distinct criminal offense;
-
To repeal draconian laws in the disputed state of
Jammu and Kashmir that grant unchecked powers to security forces to
commit human rights abuses and to conduct proper investigation on the
recently discovered mass graves of 2,900 people in the north of
Kashmir as stated in the report, “Buried Evidence”;
-
To expedite the process of establishing an
independent and credible
Commission on Disappearance in Indonesia, Timor Leste as mandated by
the Commission on Truth and Friendship and to establish a Tribunal on
Crimes Against Humanity for Timor Leste;
-
To resolve enforced disappearances cases in Belarus
during the late ‘90s and to promote and protect human rights of the
Belarusian people;
-
To expedite the process of establishing an independent
and credible Commission on Truth and Reconciliation in Nepal and
Indonesia;
-
To resolve gross violations of human rights committed
during the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen massacre and stop all forms of
repression in China;
-
To support the struggle of Judge Baltasar Garzon for the search for
justice for the families of Spain and other parts of the world;
-
To sign and ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearances without further delay.
Finally, with one voice and one spirit, linking arms with our sisters
and brothers in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Euro- Mediterranean
countries, reaffirm our firm resolve to
implement the specific resolutions of this 4th Congress and
be true to its theme. We once again renew our unwavering commitment in
the struggle for the eradication of enforced disappearance and to
endlessly work for the attainment of truth, justice, reparation and the
reconstruction of the historical memory of desaparecidos not only
in Asian region but all over the world.
SIGNED BY THE DELEGATES AND PARTICIPANTS of the AFAD’s Fourth Congress
on 1-5 June 2010 in Bogor, Indonesia
For further information, please contact:
MUGIYANTO
AFAD Chairperson
081399825960
THE DELEGATES
Fourth AFAD Congress
31 May – 5 June 2010
Jakarta and Bogor, Indonesia
