COVER STORY
by Mary Aileen
Diez-Bacalso
September 22, 2005, Geneva, Switzerland
- After three years of difficult negotiations, His Excellency Bernard
Kessedjian, Chair of the United Nations Inter-Sessional Open-Ended Working
Group to Elaborate a Draft Legally-Binding Normative Instrument for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
offered the packaged consensus document to the delegations of about ninety
UN member-states. With unparalleled courage, he asked the body thrice to
accept the result of the series of difficult discussions and not to open the
package. There was deafening silence – the first time in the whole
three-year existence of this Working Group. Following the silence, the
sound of the gavel of Honorable Kessedjian banged like music to the ears of
the delegates of organizations of families of the disappeared. The approval
of the text of the Draft International Convention on the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was announced, followed
by a thundering applause that reverberated in Room X11 of Palais des
Nations.
Well-deserved gestures of
gratitude and commendation were accorded to Honorable Kessedjian. He is the
man whose able leadership, excellent sense of diplomacy, photographic
memory, impressive sense of humor and most importantly, unflinching
commitment to the cause of the disappeared and their families had
successfully brought to the victorious conclusion such an uphill struggle to
finalize the text of the draft international treaty protecting all persons
from this scourge of involuntary disappearances. As states and NGO
delegations came to the fore to express appreciation to Honorable Kessedjian,
he himself could not hide his emotions. Taking off his glasses, he humbly
wiped the few tears of victory he shed and went back to the chair to
continue the unfinished process.
FEDEFAM spokesperson,
Señora Marta Vazquez, whose personal experience of losing her daughter and
grandchild during the dictatorship in Argentina consistently echoed the
griefs and hopes of the families of the disappeared in the halls of the
United Nations, was conspicuously absent. Nevertheless, the day earlier,
Honorable Kessedjian announced in her presence that the final report of the
body would be heartily dedicated to her - the popular symbol of the families
of the disappeared not only of Latin America but of the whole world.
During past sessions of the
Working Group, general statements of delegations were usually presented at
the beginning of the sessions. But this time toward the very end of the
session, Honorable Kessedjian gave the floor to all. States delegations
eloquently delivered their speeches. During that historic Thursday
afternoon, AFAD was privileged to be the last to speak. After three years
of consistent presence during all sessions of the Working Group, AFAD said
the following intervention, its last since January 2003.
“Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairperson and all the delegations for the tremendous efforts you have been
exerting since the very establishment of this Working Group in order to
achieve consensus and to ensure that the very purpose of this whole process
would be fully realized. In the name of AFAD, we congratulate and thank
you and your team and all the states and NGO delegations for a job
excellently done!
The Asian Federation Against
Involuntary Disappearances has been attending all the sessions of this
working
group since the very beginning of its establishment. We have
poured our time and limited resources for this very important process
knowing the important value of both the process of drafting and the desired
results. May I take this opportunity to tell you that the families of the
disappeared in our respective countries have, at this very moment, been
informed through text messages about the attainment of the long-cherished
dream for the moral and political victory – the final text of the Draft
International Convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances with a Strong Independent Monitoring Body.
Already, we have received euphoric responses and words of gratitude and
congratulations to everyone in this room.
We have been contented with both
the process and the result of the work of this inter-sessional open-ended
working group after those three years of difficult process in drafting. We
salute you, Honorable Bernard Kessedjian, for the very commendable and able
leadership you manifested throughout the whole drafting process. Indeed,
you, your team and this whole body have fulfilled the expectations of the
families of the disappeared in our continent and in the rest of the world.
We are aware that the
establishment of a Convention with an autonomous monitoring body will not be
the end of our struggle. But it is a very huge step to our continuing
struggle for the very elusive truth, justice, redress and the recuperation
of the historical memory of the disappeared. As our member-organizations
from many Asian countries say, we are tired with the continuing practice of
enforced disappearances. In the course of our work, we have even lost our
Chairperson, Munir, a human rights defender who worked long and hard against
enforced disappearances in Indonesia and as a consequence of his strong
human rights advocacy, he was murdered on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to
Amsterdam. He was with us in this session in January last year but
unfortunately, he is not anymore here to reap the result of our joint
efforts. But we are certain that wherever he may be, he is happy during
this most historic moment.
Amidst these difficulties, we
will never stop hoping. We will never stop struggling. Much remains to be
done in terms of campaigning for ratification of states and establishment of
national legislation. In so doing, we are certain that the day will come
when no mother or father or son or daughter or brother or sister will ask
the same question: Where are you?
With this newly adopted text of
the Draft International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the support of the United
Nations, we shall overcome. With this, I end by saying that the disappeared
all over the world, wherever they may be in this significant occasion, are
all as victorious as we are during this historic success. Thank you very
much. “
In response, Honorable
Kessedjian was so kind to pay tribute to AFAD and expressed great
satisfaction that the result of the Working Group’s work had given happiness
to the families’ associations. With the tribute rendered, the day that
marked the historical event ended.
That was the second to the last
day of the two-week session. AFAD representatives, composed of its
Secretary-General and delegates of its member-organizations from Indonesia,
Kashmir of India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, celebrated the achievement
in a solidarity dinner held at the residence of Alan and Kate Harmer, AFAD’s
invaluable supporter in Geneva. Friends from FEDEFAM and Linking
Solidarity graced the victory party that was highlighted by the opening of a
bottle of champagne. It was a memorable evening that allowed everyone to
relish, in beautiful ways, the long-cherished victory. Music and dancing
filled the night, making everyone exhausted at the end. With euphoria in
the air, the night ended with the group still mesmerized, unable to believe
that finally, it got what it had longed for.
September 23, 2005 - The day of
days - the final day of the life of the three-year old Working Group
arrived. People were late, perhaps because of a hang-over from the
previous night’s celebrations. It was a long morning with series of
speeches from various delegations which peaked when Loyola Guzman from
FEDEFAM delivered her final intervention, interspersed with sobs and
tears when she poignantly recounted how she dealt with her small children
when they asked her about their disappeared father.
Delegations of UN member-states
spoke of their general satisfaction with the process and the result and took
turns in congratulating the Honorable Kessedjian and paying tribute to the
families of the disappeared. Just to mention a few….
In general, the Latin American
governments passionately delivered their speeches, expressing gratitude to
Honorable Kessedjian and feeling satisfied that their collective efforts as
GRULAC (Latin American and Caribbean Group) had, at last, borne the
long-awaited fruit. To them, the approval of the text was a vindication of
the families who continue to suffer from consequences of the dark years of
dictatorship on their continent.
The delegation of Japan, the
only Asian country that explicitly supported a convention with a strong,
independent monitoring body, emphasized the imperative of setting up of a
new follow up body made up of 10 experts.
The French delegation who, from
the beginning, had already championed this project, said that what was
achieved had lived up to the expectations of those for whom the convention
was intended – the victims. Furthermore, he stressed that the body’s
responsibility vis-à-vis the victims did not end there because what was most
important was to mobilize their efforts to add enough accessions for the
instrument to enter into force.
The Italian delegation mentioned
the further steps ahead – the adoption by the Commission on Human Rights,
the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.
In any negotiation, there are
always reservations. The delegation of the United States of America, while
expressing general satisfaction, expressed reservation of the right to
truth, because accordingly, it should have to be viewed in the context of
the freedom of information. Moreover, it clearly mentioned that the
delegation remained unconvinced of the creation of a new treaty body.
In conclusion to all of the
speeches, Ambassador Kessedjian’s words during the last few official minutes
of the final session gave a message loud enough to reiterate the very
purpose of the international treaty. “We must decide that there must be a
NO TO SILENCE, a NO TO FORGETTING AND a NO TO IMPUNITY. Our greatest reward is the fact that we have aroused
in the NGOs some degree of joy and satisfaction. That is what we have
done. “ It was followed by the well-deserved standing ovation with a long
and loud applause.
Savoring the hard-earned
victory, everyone had the opportunity to express gratitude to each other.
To everyone’s delight, Honorable Kessedjian surprised the body with the
opening of bottles of champagne. The profound sense of fulfillment and
happiness, especially of the representatives of organizations of families of
the disappeared, was manifested in their tears of joy for garnering such a
great victory. As everybody was enjoying every minute of the celebration,
the AFAD song, “DESAPARECIDOS” was played. Independent expert Mr.
Louis Joinet, who, in no small measure, substantially contributed to the
drafting the convention, skillfully played his accordion, thus all the more
making the celebration a very memorable one, indeed.
For those who had consistently
attended the sessions of the Working Group since its establishment in
January 2003, a sense of separation anxiety may have enveloped them. It was
in Room XII of Palais des Nations that several sessions were
conducted and where arguments and counter-arguments on the form and
substance of the draft treaty were presented and which, eventually resulted
in a consensus.
Reaping the hard-earned fruit of
the struggle, associations of families of the disappeared should brace
themselves for more struggles ahead in order to reach the finish line – the
treaty’s adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, its ratification
by at least, 20 UN member-states for it to enter into force and the
establishment of national legislations that criminalize enforced or
involuntary disappearances and the serious implementation of the treaty in
the national levels.
Debate on the Form of Instrument and its Monitoring Body
It was amazing and inspiring how
states delegations changed their positions after having been convinced of
the value of the convention with an independent monitoring body for the
lives of the families of the disappeared.
The delegation of France saw
that on the legal level, there existed two feasible options - a convention
and a protocol to an already existing covenant. The delegation felt that if
the number of members of the committee would be increased, the covenant had
to be amended. Furthermore, they thought that with the current workload of
the Human Rights Committee vis-à-vis its resources, it would have too much
work if entrusted with monitoring and unable to cope. The French delegation
added that the amount needed in both options would be the same, but the main
issue was efficiency. Its position was a response to the victims who had
been asking for years to find a solution so that suffering of this kind will
not be repeated. Thus, it reiterated that an autonomous convention with an
independent body which would have an effective humanitarian procedure be the
best solution.
The Swiss delegation, for
example, admitted to have changed their position in favor of a convention
with an independent monitoring body. It realized that an extra burden of
work to an already over-burdened committee would render the existing Human
Rights Committee ineffective.
Other European governments, such
as Germany, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Spain were vocal of their position in
favor of a convention with an independent monitoring body – a position that
aptly responded to the cry of the families of the disappeared.
The very clear information from
Mr. Bruni, the expert requested to explain the financial and legal issues
concerning the choice of the form of instrument and its monitoring body, had
clarified many things. Approximately 887,000 US dollars would be the
estimated budget if a new body of five members with the task of convening
two sessions per year lasting one week each and which would both entail
documentation, a new report, a state report, individual communication,
travel, per diem, secretariat support and one field mission per year If
the existing Human Rights Committee would be used, it would have the same
support costs.
The legal opinion of the UN
Legal Adviser, in a fax dated Sept. 2003, replied to the question of the
Working Group. If the proposed new instrument would assign the monitoring
task to the UN Human Rights Committee, a treaty organ established by Article
28 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights whose mandate is set out in
the Covenant and its optional protocol, there would be a need to amend the
said Covenant. It gave an example that in January 1981, there was a
proposal received by the Office of Legal Affairs that the UN Human Rights
Committee would function as the organ of the proposed Committee on Torture.
The legal adviser said that the proposal posed serious legal obstacles and
if adopted, its validity could be challenged because the stated modification
could only be effected using the procedures specified in Art. 51 of the
Covenant, part of which is the procedure to amend.
Other member-states, such as,
among others, the United States and Canada remain unconvinced of a new
treaty body and brought to the fore their reservations on the basis of the
of unnecessary proliferation of international treaties.
AFAD’s Position
In an earlier intervention
during the same session, AFAD emphasized the importance of the convention to
the lives of the families of the victims, to wit:
“Mr. Chairperson, AFAD would
like to reiterate its position in favor of the imperative of an
international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced or
involuntary disappearances. For organizations of families of the
disappeared, whose members have themselves personally experienced this very
cruel form of human rights violation, an international convention is a
well-deserved victory. Our Latin American partners have been struggling for
an international convention during these last 23 years. But still, more
families have suffered in other continents, which have prompted us in Asia,
to form our own Federation. Our members from other Asian countries e.g.
organizations of families of the disappeared from the Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Kashmir, India and the Philippines, who are here with us, are living
witnesses to the crime of enforced or involuntary disappearances on our own
continent. Amidst all these, no single country in Asia has a law
criminalizing enforced disappearances. Our continent, unfortunately, has no
regional human rights mechanisms which can serve as venues for victims to
use. Worse still, the most recent reports of the United Nations Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances witness to the fact that
Asia has the highest number of cases reported – a fact which encouraged the
UNWGEID to meet for the first time in Asia, particularly in Thailand, in May
of this year. This phenomenon continues and is happening in numbers in our
region. We cannot afford to have more persons disappeared, lose more lives
and have more families suffer from this scourge of enforced disappearances.
We do not want to prolong this dark night of the disappeared. Thus, we
believe that the organizations of families of the disappeared deserve no
less than an international convention. An independent international
treaty has a moral, symbolic and legal value. An additional optional
protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
while also legally-binding, poses many difficulties. A number of states
have not yet ratified the ICCPR and its additional protocols. Thus, there
will be technical problems of coordination.
Any international instrument
should have a monitoring body to ensure effective implementation. Our
Federation, therefore, wants a strong, independent monitoring body which
will be tasked to receive reports by states parties about the issue of
enforced disappearance; to take charge of international habeas corpus;
to conduct country visits, to examine individual communications in cases of
enforced disappearances; and, in situations where cases are massive and
systematic, this body can inform the Secretary General of the UN who then
can refer the matter to the International Criminal Court to exercise its
competence. We believe that an independent monitoring body is more
effective than the existing Human Rights Committee of the ICCPR. As very
eloquently explained yesterday by the delegate of the International
Commission of Jurists, it is already overburdened with the huge number of
cases of human rights violations other than enforced disappearances.
Furthermore, using the existing Human Rights Committee will be competent
only to those states that have ratified the ICCPR and its additional
protocols and thus, will be very untrue to the universal character of the
future instrument.
The families of the disappeared
all over the world, who suffer the pain of waiting, of the uncertainty of
their loved ones’ whereabouts, of the horror of the possibility of death and
of the many other emotional, psychological and economic consequences of
losing their loved ones, deserve no less than an international convention
with a strong independent monitoring body to ensure effective and efficient
implementation.
Mr. Chairperson, in this
concluding session of the Working Group, we would once again, call on all
member-states of the United Nations to listen to the cry of the disappeared
and their families all over the world –
September 22, 2005,
Geneva, Switzerland - After
three years of difficult negotiations, His Excellency Bernard Kessedjian,
Chair of the United Nations Inter-Sessional Open-Ended Working Group to
Elaborate a Draft Legally-Binding Normative Instrument for the Protection of
All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances offered the packaged
consensus document to the delegations of about ninety UN member-states.
With unparalleled courage, he asked the body thrice to accept the result of
the series of difficult discussions and not to open the package. There was
deafening silence – the first time in the whole three-year existence of this
Working Group. Following the silence, the sound of the gavel of Honorable
Kessedjian banged like music to the ears of the delegates of organizations
of families of the disappeared. The approval of the text of the Draft
International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances was announced, followed by a thundering applause
that reverberated in Room X11 of Palais des Nations.
Well-deserved gestures of
gratitude and commendation were accorded to Honorable Kessedjian. He is the
man whose able leadership, excellent sense of diplomacy, photographic
memory, impressive sense of humor and most importantly, unflinching
commitment to the cause of the disappeared and their families had
successfully brought to the victorious conclusion such an uphill struggle to
finalize the text of the draft international treaty protecting all persons
from this scourge of involuntary disappearances. As states and NGO
delegations came to the fore to express appreciation to Honorable Kessedjian,
he himself could not hide his emotions. Taking off his glasses, he humbly
wiped the few tears of victory he shed and went back to the chair to
continue the unfinished process.
FEDEFAM spokesperson,
Señora Marta Vazquez, whose personal experience of losing her daughter and
grandchild during the dictatorship in Argentina consistently echoed the
griefs and hopes of the families of the disappeared in the halls of the
United Nations, was conspicuously absent. Nevertheless, the day earlier,
Honorable Kessedjian announced in her presence that the final report of the
body would be heartily dedicated to her - the popular symbol of the families
of the disappeared not only of Latin America but of the whole world.
During past sessions of the
Working Group, general statements of delegations were usually presented at
the beginning of the sessions. But this time toward the very end of the
session, Honorable Kessedjian gave the floor to all. States delegations
eloquently delivered their speeches. During that historic Thursday
afternoon, AFAD was privileged to be the last to speak. After three years
of consistent presence during all sessions of the Working Group, AFAD said
the following intervention, its last since January 2003.
“Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairperson and all the delegations for the tremendous efforts you have been
exerting since the very establishment of this Working Group in order to
achieve consensus and to ensure that the very purpose of this whole process
would be fully realized. In the name of AFAD, we congratulate and thank
you and your team and all the states and NGO delegations for a job
excellently done!
The Asian Federation Against
Involuntary Disappearances has been attending all the sessions of this
working
group since the very beginning of its establishment. We have
poured our time and limited resources for this very important process
knowing the important value of both the process of drafting and the desired
results. May I take this opportunity to tell you that the families of the
disappeared in our respective countries have, at this very moment, been
informed through text messages about the attainment of the long-cherished
dream for the moral and political victory – the final text of the Draft
International Convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances with a Strong Independent Monitoring Body.
Already, we have received euphoric responses and words of gratitude and
congratulations to everyone in this room.
We have been contented with both
the process and the result of the work of this inter-sessional open-ended
working group after those three years of difficult process in drafting. We
salute you, Honorable Bernard Kessedjian, for the very commendable and able
leadership you manifested throughout the whole drafting process. Indeed,
you, your team and this whole body have fulfilled the expectations of the
families of the disappeared in our continent and in the rest of the world.
We are aware that the
establishment of a Convention with an autonomous monitoring body will not be
the end of our struggle. But it is a very huge step to our continuing
struggle for the very elusive truth, justice, redress and the recuperation
of the historical memory of the disappeared. As our member-organizations
from many Asian countries say, we are tired with the continuing practice of
enforced disappearances. In the course of our work, we have even lost our
Chairperson, Munir, a human rights defender who worked long and hard against
enforced disappearances in Indonesia and as a consequence of his strong
human rights advocacy, he was murdered on a Garuda flight from Jakarta to
Amsterdam. He was with us in this session in January last year but
unfortunately, he is not anymore here to reap the result of our joint
efforts. But we are certain that wherever he may be, he is happy during
this most historic moment.
Amidst these difficulties, we
will never stop hoping. We will never stop struggling. Much remains to be
done in terms of campaigning for ratification of states and establishment of
national legislation. In so doing, we are certain that the day will come
when no mother or father or son or daughter or brother or sister will ask
the same question: Where are you?
With this newly adopted text of
the Draft International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the support of the United
Nations, we shall overcome. With this, I end by saying that the disappeared
all over the world, wherever they may be in this significant occasion, are
all as victorious as we are during this historic success. Thank you very
much. “
In response, Honorable
Kessedjian was so kind to pay tribute to AFAD and expressed great
satisfaction that the result of the Working Group’s work had given happiness
to the families’ associations. With the tribute rendered, the day that
marked the historical event ended.
That was the second to the last
day of the two-week session. AFAD representatives, composed of its
Secretary-General and delegates of its member-organizations from Indonesia,
Kashmir of India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, celebrated the achievement
in a solidarity dinner held at the residence of Alan and Kate Harmer, AFAD’s
invaluable supporter in Geneva. Friends from FEDEFAM and Linking
Solidarity graced the victory party that was highlighted by the opening of a
bottle of champagne. It was a memorable evening that allowed everyone to
relish, in beautiful ways, the long-cherished victory. Music and dancing
filled the night, making everyone exhausted at the end. With euphoria in
the air, the night ended with the group still mesmerized, unable to believe
that finally, it got what it had longed for.
September 23, 2005
- The day of days - the final day of the life of the three-year old Working
Group arrived. People were late, perhaps because of a hang-over from the
previous night’s celebrations. It was a long morning with series of
speeches from various delegations which peaked when Loyola Guzman from
FEDEFAM delivered her final intervention, interspersed with sobs and
tears when she poignantly recounted how she dealt with her small children
when they asked her about their disappeared father.
Delegations of UN member-states
spoke of their general satisfaction with the process and the result and took
turns in congratulating the Honorable Kessedjian and paying tribute to the
families of the disappeared. Just to mention a few….
In general, the Latin American
governments passionately delivered their speeches, expressing gratitude to
Honorable Kessedjian and feeling satisfied that their collective efforts as
GRULAC (Latin American and Caribbean Group) had, at last, borne the
long-awaited fruit. To them, the approval of the text was a vindication of
the families who continue to suffer from consequences of the dark years of
dictatorship on their continent.
The delegation of Japan, the
only Asian country that explicitly supported a convention with a strong,
independent monitoring body, emphasized the imperative of setting up of a
new follow up body made up of 10 experts.
The French delegation who, from
the beginning, had already championed this project, said that what was
achieved had lived up to the expectations of those for whom the convention
was intended – the victims. Furthermore, he stressed that the body’s
responsibility vis-à-vis the victims did not end there because what was most
important was to mobilize their efforts to add enough accessions for the
instrument to enter into force.
The Italian delegation mentioned
the further steps ahead – the adoption by the Commission on Human Rights,
the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.
In any negotiation, there are
always reservations. The delegation of the United States of America, while
expressing general satisfaction, expressed reservation of the right to
truth, because accordingly, it should have to be viewed in the context of
the freedom of information. Moreover, it clearly mentioned that the
delegation remained unconvinced of the creation of a new treaty body.
In conclusion to all of the
speeches, Ambassador Kessedjian’s words during the last few official minutes
of the final session gave a message loud enough to reiterate the very
purpose of the international treaty. “We must decide that there must be a
NO TO SILENCE, a NO TO FORGETTING AND a NO TO IMPUNITY. Our greatest reward is the fact that we have aroused
in the NGOs some degree of joy and satisfaction. That is what we have
done. “ It was followed by the well-deserved standing ovation with a long
and loud applause.
Savoring the hard-earned
victory, everyone had the opportunity to express gratitude to each other.
To everyone’s delight, Honorable Kessedjian surprised the body with the
opening of bottles of champagne. The profound sense of fulfillment and
happiness, especially of the representatives of organizations of families of
the disappeared, was manifested in their tears of joy for garnering such a
great victory. As everybody was enjoying every minute of the celebration,
the AFAD song, “DESAPARECIDOS” was played. Independent expert Mr.
Louis Joinet, who, in no small measure, substantially contributed to the
drafting the convention, skillfully played his accordion, thus all the more
making the celebration a very memorable one, indeed.
For those who had consistently
attended the sessions of the Working Group since its establishment in
January 2003, a sense of separation anxiety may have enveloped them. It was
in Room XII of Palais des Nations that several sessions were
conducted and where arguments and counter-arguments on the form and
substance of the draft treaty were presented and which, eventually resulted
in a consensus.
Reaping the hard-earned fruit
of the struggle, associations of families of the disappeared should brace
themselves for more struggles ahead in order to reach the finish line – the
treaty’s adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, its ratification
by at least, 20 UN member-states for it to enter into force and the
establishment of national legislations that criminalize enforced or
involuntary disappearances and the serious implementation of the treaty in
the national levels.
Debate on the Form of Instrument and its Monitoring Body
It was amazing and inspiring how
states delegations changed their positions after having been convinced of
the value of the convention with an independent monitoring body for the
lives of the families of the disappeared.
The delegation of France saw
that on the legal level, there existed two feasible options - a convention
and a protocol to an already existing covenant. The delegation felt that if
the number of members of the committee would be increased, the covenant had
to be amended. Furthermore, they thought that with the current workload of
the Human Rights Committee vis-à-vis its resources, it would have too much
work if entrusted with monitoring and unable to cope. The French delegation
added that the amount needed in both options would be the same, but the main
issue was efficiency. Its position was a response to the victims who had
been asking for years to find a solution so that suffering of this kind will
not be repeated. Thus, it reiterated that an autonomous convention with an
independent body which would have an effective humanitarian procedure be the
best solution.
The Swiss delegation, for
example, admitted to have changed their position in favor of a convention
with an independent monitoring body. It realized that an extra burden of
work to an already over-burdened committee would render the existing Human
Rights Committee ineffective.
Other European governments,
such as Germany, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Spain were vocal of their
position in favor of a convention with an independent monitoring body – a
position that aptly responded to the cry of the families of the disappeared.
The very clear information from
Mr. Bruni, the expert requested to explain the financial and legal issues
concerning the choice of the form of instrument and its monitoring body, had
clarified many things. Approximately 887,000 US dollars would be the
estimated budget if a new body of five members with the task of convening
two sessions per year lasting one week each and which would both entail
documentation, a new report, a state report, individual communication,
travel, per diem, secretariat support and one field mission per year If
the existing Human Rights Committee would be used, it would have the same
support costs.
The legal opinion of the UN
Legal Adviser, in a fax dated Sept. 2003, replied to the question of the
Working Group. If the proposed new instrument would assign the monitoring
task to the UN Human Rights Committee, a treaty organ established by Article
28 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights whose mandate is set out in
the Covenant and its optional protocol, there would be a need to amend the
said Covenant. It gave an example that in January 1981, there was a
proposal received by the Office of Legal Affairs that the UN Human Rights
Committee would function as the organ of the proposed Committee on Torture.
The legal adviser said that the proposal posed serious legal obstacles and
if adopted, its validity could be challenged because the stated modification
could only be effected using the procedures specified in Art. 51 of the
Covenant, part of which is the procedure to amend.
Other member-states, such as,
among others, the United States and Canada remain unconvinced of a new
treaty body and brought to the fore their reservations on the basis of the
of unnecessary proliferation of international treaties.
AFAD’s Position
In an earlier intervention
during the same session, AFAD emphasized the importance of the convention to
the lives of the families of the victims, to wit:
“Mr. Chairperson, AFAD would
like to reiterate its position in favor of the imperative of an
international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced or
involuntary disappearances. For organizations of families of the
disappeared, whose members have themselves personally experienced this very
cruel form of human rights violation, an international convention is a
well-deserved victory. Our Latin American partners have been struggling for
an international convention during these last 23 years. But still, more
families have suffered in other continents, which have prompted us in Asia,
to form our own Federation. Our members from other Asian countries e.g.
organizations of families of the disappeared from the Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Kashmir, India and the Philippines, who are here with us, are living
witnesses to the crime of enforced or involuntary disappearances on our own
continent. Amidst all these, no single country in Asia has a law
criminalizing enforced disappearances. Our continent, unfortunately, has no
regional human rights mechanisms which can serve as venues for victims to
use. Worse still, the most recent reports of the United Nations Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances witness to the fact that
Asia has the highest number of cases reported – a fact which encouraged the UNWGEID to meet for the first time in Asia, particularly in Thailand, in May
of this year. This phenomenon continues and is happening in numbers in our
region. We cannot afford to have more persons disappeared, lose more lives
and have more families suffer from this scourge of enforced disappearances.
We do not want to prolong this dark night of the disappeared. Thus, we
believe that the organizations of families of the disappeared deserve no
less than an international convention. An independent international
treaty has a moral, symbolic and legal value. An additional optional
protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
while also legally-binding, poses many difficulties. A number of states
have not yet ratified the ICCPR and its additional protocols. Thus, there
will be technical problems of coordination.
Any international instrument
should have a monitoring body to ensure effective implementation. Our
Federation, therefore, wants a strong, independent monitoring body which
will be tasked to receive reports by states parties about the issue of
enforced disappearance; to take charge of international habeas corpus;
to conduct country visits, to examine individual communications in cases of
enforced disappearances; and, in situations where cases are massive and
systematic, this body can inform the Secretary General of the UN who then
can refer the matter to the International Criminal Court to exercise its
competence. We believe that an independent monitoring body is more
effective than the existing Human Rights Committee of the ICCPR. As very
eloquently explained yesterday by the delegate of the International
Commission of Jurists, it is already overburdened with the huge number of
cases of human rights violations other than enforced disappearances.
Furthermore, using the existing Human Rights Committee will be competent
only to those states that have ratified the ICCPR and its additional
protocols and thus, will be very untrue to the universal character of the
future instrument.
The families of the disappeared
all over the world, who suffer the pain of waiting, of the uncertainty of
their loved ones’ whereabouts, of the horror of the possibility of death and
of the many other emotional, psychological and economic consequences of
losing their loved ones, deserve no less than an international convention
with a strong independent monitoring body to ensure effective and efficient
implementation.
Mr. Chairperson, in this
concluding session of the Working Group, we would once again, call on all
member-states of the United Nations to listen to the cry of the disappeared
and their families all over the world – NEVER AGAIN! CONVENTION NOW!
The said intervention is AFAD’s
own practical version of the value of the Convention to the families of the
disappeared in Asia, especially. During these three years of drafting
process, states delegations, international NGOs and organizations of
families of the disappeared debated on the form of instrument – whether it
be a convention with an independent monitoring body or a protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights using the existing UN
Human Rights Committee as the monitoring body.
A Fruit of a Collective Global Struggle…..
The approval of the text of the
convention is, to say the least, a breakthrough to the global campaign
against enforced or involuntary disappearances and against impunity. It is
an advance to the cause of human rights – a great accomplishment of the
United Nations. First and foremost, it is an accomplishment of the global
movement against involuntary disappearances, constituted by federations and
organizations of families of the disappeared from different parts of the
world. International non-government organizations, such as the
International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International had fully dedicated their legal adeptness in human rights work
through their active participation in the sessions in Geneva. Their inputs
had complemented the interventions of organizations of families of the
disappeared and most certainly contributed in ensuring the approval of the
text of the convention.
The year 2005 has been declared
by AFAD and its sister-federations and organizations in other continents as
the year of the Convention. As a matter of fact, AFAD spent the bulk of its
time and resources for lobby work this year. Not only did it attend regular
sessions of the Working Group for a Draft Treaty in January and September,
but also it actively lobbied in many different ways on the regional and
national levels.
A Training Seminar on the
Imperative of the Draft Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand on
the occasion of the 75th session
of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances. During the training, AFAD agreed to hold a lobby tour in
selected Asian countries, e.g. Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
Thailand. While only Sri Lanka promised to support the convention, AFAD is
optimistic that the rest of the countries visited will, at least, not object
the future treaty when it will be presented to the Commission on Human
Rights in March 2006 and will, at most, ratify it and seriously implement
its provisions.
Moreover, a couple of weeks
prior to the final session of the Working Group, AFAD staged a Solidarity
Concert, entitled, “ Seeking.” Held in the Film Center of the University of
the Philippines and graced by progressive popular artists, the concert,
attended by more than 700 people from all walks of life, was meant to gain
public attention and support to the convention. AFAD member-organizations
from different Asian countries witnessed the inspiring rendition of songs
that depict pain, hope, struggle of families of the disappeared in their
incessant search not only for their loved ones, but for a world without
desaparecidos.
Not missing any of the sessions
at the Working Group for the draft treaty, the Asian Federation Against
Involuntary Disappearances feels gratified in the most profound sense of the
word, for the biggest victory it has ever achieved. Concretely, its very
presence at the United Nations has shattered the myth propagated by
not-so-friendly states that the issue of enforced or involuntary
disappearances is an issue of the past which belongs solely to Latin
America. The fact that Asia reported the biggest number of cases to the
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has,
to a large measure, convinced the United Nations that an international
treaty with an independent monitoring body be established. This is AFAD’s
modest contribution to the struggle against this despicable crime, never to
be repeated in the history of humankind. What FEDEFAM started
several years ago and indefatigably continues to strive for, AFAD, together
with the rest of families’ associations world- wide, vows to finish until
its victorious adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Forever grateful to FEDEFAM for its inspiration in starting the
struggle more than a couple of decades ago, AFAD continues to link arms with
them and other families’ associations, supporters and the rest of society so
that, one day, the truth shall be revealed and justice shall emerge
triumphant.
To the
desaparecidos all over the world, whose inspiration has made the tiring
task of lobbying surmountable, AFAD wholeheartedly dedicates this collective
victory and offers them its unyielding struggle for a world without
desaparecidos.
The said intervention is AFAD’s
own practical version of the value of the Convention to the families of the
disappeared in Asia, especially. During these three years of drafting
process, states delegations, international NGOs and organizations of
families of the disappeared debated on the form of instrument – whether it
be a convention with an independent monitoring body or a protocol to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights using the existing UN
Human Rights Committee as the monitoring body.
A Fruit of a Collective Global Struggle…..
The approval of the text of the
convention is, to say the least, a breakthrough to the global campaign
against enforced or involuntary disappearances and against impunity. It is
an advance to the cause of human rights – a great accomplishment of the
United Nations. First and foremost, it is an accomplishment of the global
movement against involuntary disappearances, constituted by federations and
organizations of families of the disappeared from different parts of the
world. International non-government organizations, such as the
International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International had fully dedicated their legal adeptness in human rights work
through their active participation in the sessions in Geneva. Their inputs
had complemented the interventions of organizations of families of the
disappeared and most certainly contributed in ensuring the approval of the
text of the convention.
The year 2005 has been declared
by AFAD and its sister-federations and organizations in other continents as
the year of the Convention. As a matter of fact, AFAD spent the bulk of its
time and resources for lobby work this year. Not only did it attend regular
sessions of the Working Group for a Draft Treaty in January and September,
but also it actively lobbied in many different ways on the regional and
national levels.
A Training Seminar on the
Imperative of the Draft Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand on
the occasion of the 75th session
of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances. During the training, AFAD agreed to hold a lobby tour in
selected Asian countries, e.g. Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and
Thailand. While only Sri Lanka promised to support the convention, AFAD is
optimistic that the rest of the countries visited will, at least, not object
the future treaty when it will be presented to the Commission on Human
Rights in March 2006 and will, at most, ratify it and seriously implement
its provisions.
Moreover, a couple of weeks
prior to the final session of the Working Group, AFAD staged a Solidarity
Concert, entitled, “ Seeking.” Held in the Film Center of the University of
the Philippines and graced by progressive popular artists, the concert,
attended by more than 700 people from all walks of life, was meant to gain
public attention and support to the convention. AFAD member-organizations
from different Asian countries witnessed the inspiring rendition of songs
that depict pain, hope, struggle of families of the disappeared in their
incessant search not only for their loved ones, but for a world without
desaparecidos.
Not missing any of the sessions
at the Working Group for the draft treaty, the Asian Federation Against
Involuntary Disappearances feels gratified in the most profound sense of the
word, for the biggest victory it has ever achieved. Concretely, its very
presence at the United Nations has shattered the myth propagated by
not-so-friendly states that the issue of enforced or involuntary
disappearances is an issue of the past which belongs solely to Latin
America. The fact that Asia reported the biggest number of cases to the
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has,
to a large measure, convinced the United Nations that an international
treaty with an independent monitoring body be established. This is AFAD’s
modest contribution to the struggle against this despicable crime, never to
be repeated in the history of humankind. What FEDEFAM started
several years ago and indefatigably continues to strive for, AFAD, together
with the rest of families’ associations world- wide, vows to finish until
its victorious adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Forever grateful to FEDEFAM for its inspiration in starting the
struggle more than a couple of decades ago, AFAD continues to link arms with
them and other families’ associations, supporters and the rest of society so
that, one day, the truth shall be revealed and justice shall emerge
triumphant.
To the
desaparecidos all over the world, whose inspiration has made the tiring
task of lobbying surmountable, AFAD wholeheartedly dedicates this collective
victory and offers them its unyielding struggle for a world without
desaparecidos.
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
is a Filipino through and through, but claims that her name is actually
Irish in origin. This perhaps manifests her highly cosmopolitan bent,
having traveled to Europe, Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia in
her continuing advocacy for justice and redress for the disappeared and the
attainment of truth. She is currently the Secretary-General of the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and has been in the
human rights movement since the early 1980s.
