Joint Statement:

• Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
• Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
• International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)

Enforced disappearance is a continuing menace to human rights and civil liberties. The victims are not only denied due process of law but are also forced to endure unimaginable indignities.

Commission of enforced disappearance, by its clandestine nature, makes it extremely difficult to prove, even as investigators most often end up facing a blank wall. The direct or indirect involvement of security and law enforcement authorities make efforts to prevent this abominable offense, and to prosecute and put behind bars its perpetrators even more arduous. The deliberate scheme to conceal the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared renders the families’ search efforts often futile.

But with the enactment of Republic Act No. 10353 or the “Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012” on 21 December and the promulgation of the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) on 12 February, there is now more than a glimmer of hope for the victims and their families not only to finally achieve justice but also to be assured that enforced disappearance will not happen again.

The law guarantees numerous rights that include: the right of a person deprived of liberty to immediate access to effective communication; the right to restitution of honor and reputation of a victim of enforced disappearance; the right of the victims including their families to seek and be awarded compensation, and the right to access appropriate medical care and rehabilitation. But a law is only as good as its implementation.

It therefore requires strong political will on the part of government to ensure the law’s full implementation. This can only be achieved if collective action is generated in order to make the law an effective tool for accountability and combating impunity.

The new law is neither an end-in-itself nor is it a-one-size-fits-all solution. To complete the protection mechanisms from enforced disappearance, the Philippines must also abide by international human rights standards by immediately signing and acceding to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 

While it is the State that has the principal duty to recognize and protect the rights of the victims and their families to know the truth and bring perpetrators to justice, all stakeholders should work together to build a society free from enforced disappearance. 

It is for this reason that we are holding today a forum-workshop on the “Effective Implementation of Republic Act No. 10353” with the support of the Embassy of Canada and the UP Asian Center at the GT Toyota UP Asian Center Auditorium. The forum is expected to conclude with doable plans on the information dissemination of the law and its IRR that can enjoin broader public support to monitor the law’s implementation.