Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

COVER STORY

- Realizing A World Without Desaparecidos

COUNTRY SITUATIONS

- The Making of Nepal’s Anti-disappearance Law

- Disappearances & Fake Encounters

NEWS FEATURES

- Claimants 1081

- Tracing Patterns of Disappearances in Latin America

- For the Want of Peace & Justice

- Probing Deeper into Munir’s Death

- Out of the Shadows

- Reclaiming Stolen Lives

PHOTO ESSAY

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

- Growing Federation

- At the Heart of Buenos Aires

REPRINT

- Submissions to the Independent Group of Eminent Persons

STATEMENTS

- Exhuming Truth

- Joint Statement of Independent Observers for the GRP - NDF Peace Process

POEM

- Of The Vanished

International Solidarity

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) forged solidarity with two new human rights organizations from Nepal and the Philippines on December 16-19, 2006 in the event of its Third Congress themed, “Coming Together: Forging a Global Respect for the Right Not to be Disappeared,” held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Aiming to further widen its reach in the Asian region, after proper review and evaluation of the membership applications, the AFAD Congress has accepted Advocacy Forum (Nepal), Claimants 1081, Inc. (Philippines) as its new member-organizations. The Working Group on Justice For Peace, whose application was also received, was requested to submit additional information.

The Congress was composed of representatives from the AFAD member-countries (Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Kashmir, India) and delegates from AFAD’s network organizations and support group in Germany and South Africa.

Advocacy Forum is a leading human rights organization in Nepal which conducts research and advocacy work on the issue of disappearances. It also provides legal support to the victims and the families the disappeared have left behind. Claimants 1081, Inc. is an organization of Marcos victims in the Philippines. In 1986, the group filed a case before the US court against the late dictator and his family for gross human rights violations including disappearance. Seven years later, the US Court in Hawaii, the state where the Marcoses fled following the People Power Revolution, ruled in favor of the victims. It ordered the Marcoses to pay the victims exemplary damages amounting to a total of $1.2B. [See related story on p. 16 Ms. Rios’ article] The Working Group on Justice for Peace emerged from the strong public campaign of Angkhana Neelaphaijit, wife of disappeared prominent human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit in Thailand. Its main focus is to support the family members of the disappeared by bringing them together as a group to enhance their security and build their confidence to support each other in their struggle for truth and justice. [See related story on p. 24 Ms. Sarosi’s article.]

Unlike Thailand and the Philippines which have had other human rights organizations included in the Federation’s membership [Relatives Committee and FIND respectively, although the latter already withdrew its membership last year], Nepal, through the Advocacy Forum, joined AFAD for the first time. This has further emphasized the Federation’s commitment to fight disappearances despite the many life-threatening obstacles surrounding its advocacy. Based on the 2003 report of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID), Nepal holds the highest number of disappearances in Asia.

Drawing from the Congress’ analysis of the present Asian situation, enforced disappearances continue to happen unabatedly in the context of poverty and “terrorism.” In some countries such as in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the collapse of the peace talks between the government and the armed insurgents has resulted in the increase in the number of disappearance cases and other gross human rights violations. This comes despite the unanimous adoption in June 2006 of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances by the Human Rights Council which is composed mostly of elected Asian member-states.

In light of the Convention’s adoption by the UN General Assembly in February 2007, the Asian governments further face the challenge of signing and ratifying the Convention sealing the promise to criminalize disappearances, resolve the past cases and prevent future disappearances.

Calls to Action

Deeply concerned about the present human rights situation in the region, members of the Congress challenged the Asian governments not only to make promises on paper but to render genuine actions to these promises of protecting the people’s rights.

Through resolutions, AFAD called upon the Indian government to stop disappearance cases in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir; 10,000 of which were perpetrated by 700,000 members of the Indian Army since it started in 1989, according to the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act which shields the army from taking responsibility for their actions must be repealed. As the Indian government has callously refused to organize a commission to probe into these disappearances, AFAD sought the intervention of international organizations; that they be allowed to conduct investigations on the cases. The congress also raised the issue of the non-renewal of Parvez Imroz’ passport. Parvez is the patron of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), AFAD’s member-organization in Kashmir, India. This comes in the light of the Federation’s protest against the government’s harassment of APDP’s activists, i.e. holding of travel documents. AFAD challenged India’s claim to be the “world’s largest democracy.”

In Indonesia, over two years have passed since the brutal murder of AFAD Chairperson Munir, yet the case remains unresolved. Members of the Congress urged Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to grant his 100 percent support to the police investigation and order the State Intelligence Body (BIN) to fully cooperate with the investigators. To note, the Fact Finding Team (TPF) organized by the President to delve into Munir’s case had found evidences establishing the involvement of BIN’s high-ranking officers in the murder. In accordance to the Presidential Decree which ordered the TPF’s formation, President Yudhoyono must publicly announce the team’s findings. [See related story on p. 31 of Atty. Suparyati’s article.]

Apart from Munir’s case, AFAD asked that the Attorney General of Indonesia conduct an investigation on the disappearance cases which occurred in 1997 and 1998 as well as ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators through the Human Rights Court. Along with this is a reiteration on its call on the government to invite the UNWGEID for an official visit.

Last, as the AFAD Third Congress welcomed the peace agreement between the Government of Nepal and the CPN Maoists and considered it a ray of hope for the victims of human rights violations, it also expressed its deep concern regarding both parties’ lack of commitment to resolve the problem of impunity. The crucial prerequisite to a just and lasting peace is political will in solving past problems.

Mugiyanto is the founding chairperson of IKOHI. He himself became a victim of involuntary disappearance when he was kept in secret detention, during which he was physically and psychologically tortured by the Kopassus immediately after the fall of Suharto in 1998. Three months after, he was released. Currently, he is the Chairperson of AFAD.

VOICE August 2007