Click on images to enlarge

PDF DOWNLOAD

CONTENTS

Cover

Editorial

Cover Story
Entry into Force of
the International
Convention for the
Protection of All
Persons from Enforced
Disappearance and
Future Perspectives


News Features
The Ratification of the
International Convention for
the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance
by Indonesia: The Long-Awaited
Promise…


Victims of Disappearances
– Still Waiting for Justice in
Sri Lanka


From ‘Healing Wounds, Mending
Scars’ to ‘From Survivors to
Healers’


Bogor, Bond and Basho
Memoirs of AFAD Fourth
Congress


UN WGEID and the 1992 UN
Declaration on Disappearances


Hiding Behind Lies

Photo Essay
Ang Mamatay Nang Dahil Sa
Iyo: A Nationwide University
Roadshow on Extra-Legal
Killings and Enforced
Disappearances



On Latin America
Trekking Latin American Terrains
in the Pursuit of Truth and
Justice…


Ciudad Juarez, Mexico:
Laboratory of the Future


Review
Unsilenced: A Review

Reflections from the Secretariat
Bird’s View on the Crows’ Nest: A
Visit to Sri Lanka


Conference Report
Reclaiming Stolen Lives:
Forensic sciences and human
rights investigations conference


Solidarity Message
Thank you very much,
Patricio Rice


Statement
AFAD Statement on the Visit of
UNWGEID to TImor Leste


Odhikar Congratulates
the People of Egypt on their
Victory for Human Rights and
Democracy


Mind Teasers
Crossword

Cryptoqoute

Literary Corner
By the Wayside


Cover Background Source:
“Time Tunnel”
by Thomas Leiser
©www.flickr.com

STATEMENT

 

AFAD STATEMENT ON THE VISIT
OF THE UNWGEID TO TIMOR LESTE

10 February 2011 - The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) lauds the on-going visit of the United Nations Working on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) to Timor Leste. The visit which started on the 7th of February and would end on the 14th of the month, occurs aptly after more than a month of the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances on 23 December 2010. Earlier scheduled in December 2010 but postponed to early 2011, the visit is hoped to bring about justice and peace in this country which, for more than a couple of decades from 1975-1999, was seeking for independence from the Indonesian occupation resulting in untold killings and enforced disappearances of millions of civilians.

According to the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission of Timor Leste, there are 18,600 death tolls and enforced disappearances during the war from 1974-1999. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports of 2,500 victims of enforced disappearances during the period. The HAK Association of Timor Leste, a member-organization of AFAD, reports that most of these disappearances occurred between 1975 to 1983.

In the November 2009 visit of AFAD to Timor Leste, we have learned that most of the people whom we had spoken to, including those from government agencies, have loved ones victimized by enforced disappearances. In a meeting of the AFAD and the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) with His Excellency President Ramos-Horta, no less than the president of the country shared that he has a disappeared brother.

For most if not all of the victims of enforced disappearances, truth remains unveiled and justice is far from being meted out. In a visit that we had with some victims of the Sta. Cruz massacre in Liquiça, the victims whom we met expressed their profound frustration over the absence of truth and justice and the prevailing of the atmosphere of impunity and continued to look forward to the realization of their much-cherished dream for a just and lasting peace.

This on-going visit of the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances of the United Nations is expected to ferret out the truth of enforced disappearances in the country based on which, concrete recommendations are expected which would pave the way to the resolution of cases.

The AFAD takes this opportunity to request the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to appeal to the Government of Timor Leste to expedite the fulfillment of the promise of President Ramos Horta to AFAD and to FEDEFAM that his government would sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons From Enforced Disappearance. The fulfillment of the promise will indeed help pave the way towards the eventual attainment of a just and lasting peace in this blood-stained country.

Finally, the AFAD believes that the voices of the victims and civil society organizations have to be heard and their recommendations be taken serious consideration. Thus, in this vein, AFAD encourages them to fully cooperate with the Working Group in our common endeavor to erase enforced disappearances from the face of the earth.

The desaparecidos and their families and the rest of the population of Timor Leste deserve no less than truth, justice, redress and the reconstruction of the historical memory.

MUGIYANTO
Chairperson
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary-General

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

The VOICE March 2011

Copyright 2011 www.afad-online.org 
AFAD - Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Web Design by: www.listahan.org