May 24 -30, 2015 - This week, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and the rest of the global movement against enforced disappearances commemorate the International Week of the Disappeared. Around the world, family members, especially wives, mothers and daughters of victims of enforced disappearance have been trapped by the disappearance of their husbands, sons and brothers. They continue to be in a state of limbo, living with the haunting shadows of a cruel past. Families of the disappeared have been suffering from the social, psychological, legal, and economic effects of the disappearance of their loved ones.

Their unrelenting struggle for truth and justice has transformed them into courageous human rights defenders, propelled by the quest to stand up for their right to know the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared loved ones. Amidst pain, their courage and determination in the pursuit for truth and justice permit them to overcome the devastating consequences of enforced disappearance.

In whatever forms of protest, families of the disappeared cry for truth and justice in order to stir the conscience of those responsible for committing this very cruel form of human rights violation. Such violation, which, when committed in the context of massive and systematic manner, is considered a crime against humanity. Enforced disappearance is anathema to the sanctity of life.

Today, as in the past, the vast continent of Asia has the most number of cases of enforced disappearance in the world. Governments across Asia, in the past and present, have employed the State security apparatus to commit enforced disappearance of their citizens, many of which were done for political reasons in the context of dictatorship, insurgency, war against terrorism and internal conflicts.

In Asia, there are no strong regional mechanisms for redress and there is an utter lack of pieces of domestic legislation criminalizing enforced disappearance. The Philippines, which enacted Republic Act 10353 on December 21, 2012, is an exception but the law remains to be fully implemented.

In South and Southeast Asia, enforced disappearances continue to haunt people from all walks of life. Often used as a tool to silence criticism, enforced disappearances usually take place in highly militarized areas and committed with almost complete impunity. It a tool used to stifle dissent.

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, in its Annual Report, presents the following statistics of Asian countries - figures which pale in comparison with actual cases:

United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance 2014 Report

From the above-mentioned statistics, It is important to underscore the negative picture of Bangladesh where political opponents of the present government are being abducted and disappeared. Some, like human rights and labor activist Aminul Islam, were surfaced dead with manifestations of severe torture.

Despite their membership in the United Nations, many Asian governments do not adhere to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, among other UN instruments. Only few Asian governments have signed and ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

On the occasion of the commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances pays tribute to all the world’s “desaparecidos” for their sacrifices in the pursuit for truth, justice and peace. Linking arms with other international and regional human rights organizations, and civil society organizations in the whole world, AFAD reaffirms its pledge of unwavering commitment to relentlessly pursue the search for truth and justice and to redeem the human dignity of victims and their families.

AFAD also honors the families of the disappeared, especially the wives, mothers and daughters for their indefatigable search for truth and justice. Their agony and anguish are the pillars of their strength to continue the struggle. Their pain will not deter them from continually searching for truth and justice. As the mothers, grandmothers, children of Latin America say, “ no hay dolor inutil” or there is no useless pain.

Very importantly, during this year’s commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared, AFAD especially celebrates the return of 15 disappeared Timorese children, who were taken by Indonesian soldiers to Indonesia during the Indonesian occupation, to Timor-Leste and their reunification with their biological families. It is a triumph of truth against lies, of justice against injustice, of memory against forgetting.

As the international movement against enforced disappearances commemorates the International Week of the Disappeared, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances reiterates its call to the concerned governments across Asia to:

1. Sign and ratify the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and recognize the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances;

2. Enact pieces of domestic legislation criminalizing enforced disappearance and putting an end to all forms of impunity;

3. Surface all victims of enforced disappearance: Sombath Somphone, Somchai Neelapaijit, Jonas Burgos, Masood Janjua, Ilias Ali, Ansar Ali, Porlagee Rakcharoen, Sumlut Roi Ja, Khem Sophath, Dedek Khairudin, Abu Bakar Siddique, and all other victims NOW!

4. Conduct investigations and bring to justice all perpetrators.

Signed and authenticated by:

KHURRAM PARVEZ
Chairperson

MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary-General