AFAD Statement on the International Human Rights Day 2012
Today as the world commemorates the 64th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the families of the disappeared and other human rights groups in the call for the full respect of the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.
However, 64 years after the adoption of the UDHR in Paris, France, thousands of people around the world are still forcibly made to disappear by their own governments and are placed in illegal and unknown detention centers while their families are left with no means to seek truth and demand for justice.
Enforced disappearance is still very much rampant in Asia, the continent which has the highest number of cases submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (UN WGEID) in recent years. Lamentably, Asia still lacks strong regional human rights mechanisms for protection, redress and accountability. To date, there is still no existing domestic law in Asia that defines and penalizes disappearance as a separate and autonomous criminal offense.
The human rights situations in some Asian countries where AFAD has member-organizations attest to this stark reality. What adds insult to injury is that government authorities do not only deny that this atrocities are happening but they are also suppressing the rights of those who are speaking against it.
In Bangladesh, more than 50 people have disappeared since 2010 according to Dhaka-based human rights group, Odhikar. Instead of making true its promise to end abuses and render justice before the international community, the government of Sheikh Hasina turns its eyes on civil society by constantly harassing and threatening them through surveillance, restriction of funding and by charging them with trumped up criminal offenses.
In Kashmir, India, at least 8,000 persons have disappeared since the armed conflict began in 1989 according to the Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). In 2010, the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found 2,730 bodies dumped into unmarked graves in four districts within the Indian military-controlled borders. The Indian government turns its blind eyes and deaf ears on the issue and worse still, attempts to suppress civil society from exposing it and refuses to have DNA tests performed to identify the skeletal remains found in the said mass graves. The APDP is not only under constant threats but also restricted of movements of their human rights defenders through, among others, the denial of passport renewal.
In Sri Lanka, disappearances practically occur at a rate of one every five days even after the civil war ended in 2009. The Rajapaksa Government brashly denies such incidences despite a passage of a UN resolution indicating the failure of the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations of its own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). Even after accusation against the Government of about more than 100,000 disappearances during and post-war period, the Government has not shown any positive reaction to inquire into or to answer these allegations. It even unleashed its fury against the civil society by intensifying political repression. On December 3, six persons including two elderly women family members of our local member-organizations were arrested for participating in the AFAD solidarity event that showed a video documentary on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. If not for timely intervention of civil society groups, the 6 might have fallen victims to enforced disappearance.
Keeping its silence at the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last month even after many countries mentioned the issue of disappearances, Sri Lanka continues to keep disappearance as a political weapon to silence its opponents instead of resolving past cases and ensuring non-repetition.
Enforced disappearance is also being carried out in cross borders. The abduction of persons in South Korea by North Korean security agents continues after the armistice was signed in 1953. North Korean government insists that the South Koreans defected to North Korea, and remain there on their own free will. This is despite the testimonies of former abductees who have escaped from the North. Until now, North Korea refuses to return their disappeared relatives of South Korean victims.
But not all is in vain in the struggle against enforced disappearance in the region. The efforts of families of victims and human rights groups have borne fruits in some Asian countries but not without challenges.
In Nepal, the Government merged the Disappearance bill with TRC that is against the spirit of Supreme Court order and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and against the need of the country. Despite the Supreme Court order, the Government of Nepal has miserably failed to investigate the cases of extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances, thus allowing the atmosphere of impunity to reign.
In Indonesia, the Indonesian Government's signing of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Convention on September 27, 2010 should have shown the government’s recognition of the seriousness of the offense and its obligation to resolve the past cases of disappearances. But until now, President Yudhoyono has been noticeably silent on the recommendations by the Parliament to set up a court that will look into the disappearances of the 13 activists who disappeared between 1997-1998.
In Thailand, after signing the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Convention on January 9, 2012, the Thai government has recently paid financial compensation to victims of state security in its deep south, which is still under state of emergency. It includes compensation to the family of Somchai Neelaphaijit, the prominent human rights lawyer who disappeared on March 12, 2004. But this should not only be done in the name of reconciliation but must be a part of the effort to guarantee justice, accountability and non-repetition.
Further, as in any government, Thailand needs to pay attention and take concrete steps to advance their efforts to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances. It still has to pay sufficient attention to victims of enforced disappearances of June 1991 and May 1992.
In Timor Leste, the ongoing efforts to map out a UN presence in Timor-Leste after the mandate of United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) expires on 26 February 2012, is a welcome development. But it must lead towards addressing the continuing impunity for crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations which occurred during Indonesian occupation (1975-1999). The new government has to follow up the implementation of recommendations of the CAVR and the Commission on Truth and Friendship of Timor Leste (CTF) on the re-dignification of the victims of crimes against humanity. It has to approve the Reparation and Memorial Institution Laws which remains unapproved since 2008.
In the Philippines, after languishing in seven Congresses, the proposed legal measure against enforced disappearance has been ratified by both houses of the Philippine Congress on October 16 and has been transmitted to Malacanang on November 20. The President has 30 days to sign the bill or it would automatically lapse into a law. President Aquino must take this golden opportunity to immediately sign the bill in order to show his government’s commitment to uphold human rights and to end impunity from increasing human right violations in the country. It is evident that there is still a wide gap between words and deeds, policies and practices, promises and action.
Today, we are reminding all States of their primary obligation to promote, protect and fulfill the human rights of all people without discrimination including the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. They can do so by signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance without reservation and enacting domestic laws that will address, suppress and prevent it.
Today, as we commemorate the International Human Rights Day, we recognize the long-drawn struggle of the families of the victims and human rights organizations particularly in Asia to obtain truth, justice, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-repetition. Their continuing struggle proves that human rights are not given in a silver platter but should be fought for in order to make human rights a reality for all.
Signed and Authenticated by:
MUGIYANTO
Chairperson
and
MARY AILEEN DIEZ-BACALSO
Secretary General