April 28, 200, a stretch of almost a month, was a
designated trip to Europe. In this period, some focus was given to
intensifying advocacy work of AFAD. This was highlighted by lobbying on
the involuntary disappearance issue at the 57th session of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), strengthening solidarity and
other aspects of advocacy work in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany
and Sweden. The lobbying point at the international level is geared
towards convincing governments to ratify the UN Draft Convention on the
Protection of Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The
members of the AFAD Council from representatives of member-organizations
in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kashmir, India, Thailand and the Philippines
planned to lobby collectively at the UN session.
Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, AFAD Secretary General and FIND
Co-Chairperson, and I travelled together. Leaving Manila on April 1, we
landed in Geneva the following day. We quickly settled our things in the
house of a friend then went straight to the United Nations for
accreditation. The process was rather fast so that from there, we went to
the Serpent's Hall at the second floor of the Palais des Nations.
This place is open to meetings of NGOs and government representatives in
between the regular session of the UNCHR. There, we met the other AFAD
Council members, Chandra Peiris and Shantha Pathirana of Sri Lanka and
Ikravany Hilman of Indonesia. The last time we were together was when we
were in Jakarta during the Asian and Latin-American Lawyers' Conference in
November last year. Many things have already happened in between so that
we were excited to see ach other again. The second day, Jane Khiewboriboon
from AFAD's member-organization in Thailand arrived. The Kashmir
representative, however, did not arrive due to visa problems.
Our stay in Geneva was very interesting, I think this
period can be described as "running time" within the vast UN building.
Ever conscious that this kind of opportunity does not happen often, we
wanted to do much in such a brief period. We were able to talk with
government representatives from the Philippines and Sri Lanka. We also
joined a special forum on involuntary disappearance sponsored by
FEDEFAM where Aileen was one of the speakers. We had an important
meeting with the Chairperson and Secretary General of the UN working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances where particular situations and
updates on involuntary disappearances were shared by AFAD Council members.
We maximized the rest of the period by listening to the discussions during
the regular session of the UN and meeting old partners and other possible
partners also present in the UN. One afternoon, we had a meeting with
representatives of the UN Voluntary Funds for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT).
We were hoping that the UNVFVT would also support the other
member-organization of AFAD as it has been supporting FIND for the past 10
years. To further maximize our togetherness, the AFAD Council held a
two-day meeting. Its agenda included assessment over the past period,
firming up its plan and budget for the year and other business matters.
A big leap was achieved during particular UN-session.
Thirty-five countries were in favor of the creation of an Inter-Sessional
Working Group that will study the Draft UN Convention on the Protection of
All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance while four
countries (the USA, India, Japan and Malaysia) were against it. Likewise,
five countries were against the appointment of an expert for the
Convention while 37 countries were in favor. For AFAD and FEDEFAM,
this level of achievement is very important. This is a step closer to the
day when the much-awaited Convention will be ratified. We all know though,
that we have yet to exert greater efforts if we are to bring this
important work to a higher level.
As planned, the remaining three weeks were spent in
meeting FIND and AFAD partners in The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.
Indeed, Aileen and I met many wonderful people in these countries. As we
did our best to present the developments of AFAD and its members over the
past one-year period, we were very much touched by the openness of
partners and friends to generously give their share to the advancement of
the justice campaign for the disappeared and their families. Indeed, there
were so many of hem that we cannot name all. Our partners' support and
trust inspire us no end to give our best to every task at hand.
