Year 2001 -
AFAD gives birth to The Voice, its official publication. In the
same way that the federation underwent a process of conception and birth
pangs, necessarily , this maiden issue had to undergo the same... so that
the voiceless desaparecidos in Asia and in many parts of the world, may be
heard amidst the glaring attempts of the perpetrators to forever silence
them.
For decades, powers-that-be are using all their resources
and machineries at their disposal to hide the truth and to perpetuate
impunity amidst the cry of the families of the desaparecidos for the very
elusive truth, justice and redress. Indeed, in the international level, it
has been an uphill struggle for the organizations of the families of the
disappeared to lobby for the ratification of the United Nations Draft
Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances fro many reasons, e.g. that the issue of involuntary
disappearances is accordingly a thing of the past, that it happened only
in Latin America and that creating new international treaties is redundant
as that there are already existing ones, etc. In the national levels,
particularly in Asia, the legislation of laws criminalizing enforced or
involuntary disappearances has still to see the light of day.
This maiden issue of The Voice speaks of a common
excruciating pain of the Asian people. The anger of the East Timorese
towards Indonesian military for disappearing their loved ones and for
depriving them of their freedom for ages; still continuing cycle of
poverty and repression suffered by our Indonesian brothers and sisters
even in this post-Suharto period; the chilling atmosphere of fear in
Kashmir as the people struggle for independence from the Indian
government; the irony of unresolved and still continuing cases of
disappearances in so-called democratic Philippines; the never-ending war
in Sri Lanka causing endless pain especially to the already wounded and
broken families of the disappeared; the still festering families of the
victims of the May 1992 massacre in Thailand, the cry of the mothers' of
the Tiananmen Square massacre victims in China - all these and definitely
many other untold sufferings in other countries of Asia and of the rest of
the world speak of an imperative: to ventilate the voice of the
voiceless.
The Voice necessarily has to reflect, not only
the pains and sufferings of the desaparecidos, but also, the sings
and symbols of hope and courage, and, hopefully, in the not-so-distant
future, of the much-cherished victory. The initially-formed lawyers'
network in Asia and Latin America during the AFAD-sponsored conference in
Jakarta is one of the very first steps towards the realization of the
much-deserved fruits of our efforts - truth, justice and redress.
A dream at the moment, but with the inner strength from
the commitment of the families of the victims and of those who themselves
disappeared and have fortunately resurfaced for one reason or another,
complemented by the indispensable support of the greater society, this
victory shall certainly dawn upon us. For this to be concretized, the
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and all truth and
justice-loving peoples of the world should concretely realize that it is
both a task and a challenge!
The enemies of the truth may seem invincible. The
voiceless may seem incapable of countering those who continue to
silence them. Yet, from the very recesses of the hearts of the victims and
all those who believe in human rights, there would emerge The Voice
that may start with a whisper and will eventually be reverberated in every
nook and cranny of the world. There would certainly emerge The Voice of
the Voiceless Desaparecidos.
