Sixty-six years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a common standard for all peoples and nations to achieve and enjoy in terms of their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Since then, nine human rights treaties have been adopted and ratified by many States Parties to make human rights claims legally binding and enforceable.
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CAED), which entered into force on 23 December 2010 is one of these nine treaties where a new right is recognized:
The Right Not to be Disappeared. As of 12 September 2014, the Committee on Enforced Disappearance reported that this treaty has 43 States Parties and 94 signatories. In Asia, only Cambodia, Iraq and Japan ratified the Convention while Laos, Lebanon, Mongolia and Thailand signed it. Of these said Asian States Parties, only Japan recognized the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in terms of inter-state complaints.
Enforced disappearance deprives victims of their liberty as their whereabouts, upon arrest or abduction by state agents are concealed, thus putting him/her outside the protection of the law. It has been used by many repressive regimes, past and present, or even those considered to be democratic or in fragile, post-conflict governments against persons generally perceived to be their enemies.
Asian peoples are highly vulnerable to enforced disappearance. This is the continent with the largest number of population, land area and endowed with rich natural resources. Many countries in Asia are in situations of armed conflicts such as in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, China (Xinjiang province), Pakistan (Baluchistan and Sindh; areas along the border of Afghanistan), Jammu and Kashmir (India). Thousands of cases of enforced disappearance have been reported to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) and many more remain undocumented. During its 2012 visit to Pakistan for example, their sources conveyed cases ranging from hundreds to thousands where in Baluchistan alone, they were told of 14,000 cases allegedly committed by state agents. (see http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12549&LangID=E)
Enforced disappearance continues to be a problem as well in post-conflict countries. In Sri Lanka, the government has become more repressive with each passing day and families of disappeared victims who actively campaigned for truth and justice have either been disappeared or arrested and detained on false charges under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. In Nepal, efforts to institute justice mechanisms respectful of international human rights standards are opposed or watered down in its Truth and Reconciliation Act where perpetrators can seek amnesty. There’s a bit of good news though in its judiciary with the conviction three days ago of perpetrators in the abduction and murder of journalist Dekendra Thapa. But the prison terms are very short – only one to two years.
In supposedly democratic governments like India, an estimated 1,500 women in Jammu and Kashmir are uncertain about the fate of their husbands who have disappeared or remained missing. This makes their civil status uncertain as well, thus the term coined to them as “half-widows.” They are in miserable situation economically and those who opt to remarry are subjected to the social stigma rooted from religious contestations on marriage. (see http://www.wunrn.com/news/2014/08_14/08_11/081114_india.htm). The elections for state legislature are ongoing in Jammu and Kashmir but lamentably, none of the political parties stated positions on human rights particularly enforced disappearance. Bangladesh is also in a similar situation. Stricter laws are imposed to clamp dissent and human rights defenders are continually persecuted.
Enforced disappearance and other human rights violations of the past dictatorial regime of Suharto continue to hound the government of Indonesia as newly-elected President Jokowi, who promised to address these cases, was heavily criticized for appointing a human rights violator as its defense minister. In Thailand, the promise of ratification of CAED at the end of 2014 was scuttled when a military coup was staged in May this year. In South Korea, hundreds of its nationals including those living in China have been abducted and disappeared by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea since the 1950’s to 1980s as well as in recent years according to the February 2014 report of the UN Commission on Inquiry on Human Rights in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.
In the Philippines, the law criminalizing enforced disappearance has yet to be fully implemented and many of the members of its security forces are not yet aware of the law.
This prevailing context of impunity emphasizes the need to institute mechanisms of redress at the national and regional levels.
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances calls upon Asian governments to stop the practice of enforced disappearance and protect the right of its citizens not to be disappeared. In particular, it especially calls on the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines to sign and ratify the Convention NOW and set the example among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). AFAD similarly calls on the government of Timor-Leste to sign and ratify CAED given its own huge numbers of disappeared victims including 20,000 children during the Indonesian occupation. Further, Timor-Leste is applying for membership in the ASEAN where human rights are supposedly embedded in its Charter. Ratifying the CAED is an important step to protect its own people from enforced disappearance as the region is moving towards integration in 2015.
Human rights treaties were instituted by the United Nations as a result of the sweat, blood and tears of victims from around the world who, either collectively or individually asserted their human rights, thus creating an international human rights movement that demanded states to recognize these rights. Many of them laid down their lives for the cause. Let us not fail them.
“On this 66th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call on Asian peoples to unite and rally behind the call for Asian governments to sign and ratify the Convention Now!” Mary Aileen Bacalso, AFAD Secretary General concluded.
Signed and authenticated by:
KHURRAM PARVEZ
Chairperson
MARY AILEEN DIEZ-BACALSO
Secretary General