28 May 2012
JOINT STATEMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF THE DISAPPEARED 2012
Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD)

We mark the International Week of the Disappeared (28 May – 02 June) this year amidst the continued commission of enforced disappearances in no less than 87 countries across continents. The families of desaparecidos in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Timor Leste join our Asian neighbors in giving tribute to the desaparecidos and more importantly in abhorring the culture of impunity that generally blankets perpetrators and violators in the region.  Too, this year’s commemoration coincided with an important exercise of the United Nations Human Rights Council in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of some Asian States.

It is alarming that in more recent years, Asia has submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) the highest number of persons who are made to disappear for exercising their rights and for opposing human rights violations. These and scores of other unreported and undocumented victims of enforced or involuntary disappearances reflect the stark reality of human rights protection in the region.

These are also manifested in specific key incidents of enforced disappearance and allied human rights violations such as the discovery of AFAD-member Association of Parents of the Disappeared Persons (APDP) of around “2, 900 unmarked graves in cemeteries of 18 villages near the Line of Control, dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan.” The government of India has still to officially respond to the report on the said mass graves, entitled “Buried Evidence.” In Pakistan, thousands of persons have been subjected to enforced disappearance, mostly from Balochistan province and from the North Western Frontier Province, Sindh and Punjab. The number of cases has sharply increased as Pakistan was subjected to the “war on terror” campaign. During the Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste, approximately 186,000 to 250,000 people died and were made to disappear based on a report of the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission of Timor-Leste. In view of the massive unresolved cases of the past, the UN WGEID officially visited the country at the beginning of 2012. The now independent governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste continually ignored the recommendations submitted by the Commission.

This hideous reality presents a continuing imperative that fuels our organizations’ call for the immediate ratification and universal implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention). A milestone in the struggle against enforced disappearance, the Convention protects every person’s right against this violation, the right to know the truth, the right of victims and their families to reparation and rehabilitation. It equally emphasizes the duties of States Parties to protect these rights, investigate and bring to justice the violators, and prevent further commission of enforced disappearance.

While the number of States Parties to the Convention was enough to lead to its eventual entry into force, the record for Asian countries is very dismal. To date, only three Asian countries (Japan, Iraq, Kazakhstan), out of the 32 states, are Staties Parties; while seven Asian states, out of the 91 states, are signatories to the Convention.

It is lamentable that, on the one hand, State authorities, in particular the security forces which have the duty to defend and protect the people, who commit enforced disappearances do not own up to the responsibility of their actions. On the other hand, the disappeared persons, who are tagged “enemies of the State” continue to suffer deprivation of their basic right to liberty and oftentimes to life. Moreover, mechanisms and processes of accountability including court proceedings run snail-paced in most Asian governments.

We, time and again, reiterate the severe and continuing nature of enforced disappearance for as long as the fate and whereabouts of the victims remain unknown… for as long as the victims’ families and relatives suffer the recurrent agony of uncertainty and loss…for as long as this appalling violations of peoples’ rights continue to occur…and for as long people especially state authorities continue to harbor with impunity the act and perpetrators of enforced disappearance.

Opportunities present themselves in the on-going and parallel campaigns for states’ ratification, enactment of domestic legislation penalizing enforced disappearance and much-needed reforms in the region. Indonesia and Thailand are among the few Asian states who have signed the Convention, with the latter being the latest addition to the signatories. In the Philippines, we continuously push for the last stretch of the passage of a domestic law. At the regional level, an important initiative and opportunity for the civil society is set forth in the ASEAN Charter is the establishment of the Asian Inter-governmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR). While the region-wide body remains up to this date wanting of enabling and implementing mechanisms, organizations and advocates should remain vigilant and pro-active in its transformation as they were in its formation. The on-going UPR cycle, for its part, becomes an important venue for human rights promotion and protection should States recognize and implement the recommendations of the review process.

As the international community pays tribute to our beloved desaparecidos during this week, let it be a strong reminder of the challenge and opportunities that our organizations in various parts in Asia face in the struggle for a world without disappeared persons. It is high time that Asian countries take bold steps in signing and ratifying the Convention NOW and in enacting a domestic law which will criminalize enforced or involuntary disappearance. Let the rule of law protect all human rights for all in Asia and in the whole world.

In solidarity,

MARY AILEEN DIEZ BACALSO	NILDA LAGMAN SEVILLA
Secretary General of AFAD and Focal Person of ICAED	Co-Chairperson FIND