- Category: Statements
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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.
- Category: Statements
27 May –June 2, 2012 – Every last week of May, the international community, especially the associations of families of the disappeared, commemorates the International Week of the Disappeared (IWD). The commemoration of the IWD can be traced to the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared (FEDEFAM), which initiated this event during its founding Congress in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1981. Over the past thirty years this event has inspired many organizations world-wide to fight enforced disappearances.
This week, in the observance of the International Week of the Disappeared, the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) and its 40 member-organizations from Africa, Asia, the Eurasian Region (Euro-Mediterranean Region, Caucasus and Belarus), Latin America and the United States of America will conduct various activities to intensify its campaign for the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention) and in so doing, pay tribute to the disappeared.
- Category: Statements
Lasting Tribute to the May 1992 Heroes and Martyrs
Today, twenty long years have passed since the Thai people experienced one of the most gruesome massacres in history when hundreds of people who were fighting for genuine change and democracy in the country were violently and brutally suppressed by the Thai security forces. A couple of decades have passed yet truth and justice on the killings and disappearances are still to be achieved. A number of victims are still unaccounted for.
While in recent years, the Thai government in recent years had sought to atone for the gross human rights violations committed during the 1992 Black May massacre by indemnifying some of the victims and their families and by promising to build a monument in memory of the May 1992 Heroes, efforts to simply turn the page Thailand’s repressive history without genuine truth and accountability merely manifest impunity.
- Category: Statements
The right to the truth or "the right to know the truth" is now widely recognized under international law as an indispensable aspect of justice. In case of enforced disappearance, this means the right of the victims’ families to know the circumstances of the disappearance of their loved ones, the progress and results of any investigations, establishing with certainty the fate and whereabouts of the victims, and the identity of those responsible. Establishing the truth is therefore a necessary step towards ending impunity.
While the search for truth is a requisite for justice, all victims of human rights violations should be treated with humanity and respect for their dignity regardless of whether the perpetrators of such transgressions are identified, apprehended, prosecuted, or convicted. It is the duty of the state to undertake appropriate measures to provide them with adequate, effective and prompt reparation as a humanitarian act of redressing violations committed against them.
- Category: Statements
SOLIDARITY MESSAGE
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) congratulates our colleagues and friends from the Komisi Untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan or The Commission for “the Disappeared” and Victims of Violence (KontraS) on their organization’s fourteenth anniversary.
As one of the most active member-organizations of our federation, KontraS is committed to the work for human rights. Fourteen years in its struggle for human rights, KontraS has withstood the tests of time – overcoming the consequences of the series of raids in 2002 and 2003 and worse still, witnessing the brutality of the assassination of its founder, Munir. Such commitment is one of AFAD’s sources of strength for our regional federation.
- Category: Statements
Although Spain’s Amnesty Law of 1977 seems to be a protective blanket of General Franco’s surviving supporters of his regime, it only provides for an amnesty for political crimes – and the crimes under international law committed in Spain in the past do not amount to political crimes. The Spanish Magistrate Baltasar Garzón did comply with the obligations of Spain under international law when he decided to investigate and prosecute the former Chilean head of state, Augusto Pinochet in October 1998.
The investigation initiated by Judge Garzón on the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Civil War by both parties to the conflict and the Franco regime is righteous because this is an attempt to correct a historical blunder. There are no wounds to open as opposed to some claims because the wounds of the families of the victims of human rights violations and enforced disappearances are still open and are in fact, festering- even after 41 years since the death of Francisco Franco. Two years after his death, the Government of Spain passed the Amnesty Law – though it ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights few months before that.
- Category: Statements
Enforced Disappearance in Thailand must end Now!
Eight years have passed but truth and justice for the disappeared prominent Thai human rights lawyer, Somchai Neelaphaijit still remain very elusive. Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit was forcibly disappeared on 12 March 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand. At the time of his disappearance, Mr. Somchai was working on torture cases committed by Thai security officers in the southern province of Thailand, which was then placed under martial law.
Despite efforts of Atty. Neelaphaijit’s family to bring his case at the national and international attention and to put those responsible to the bar of justice, only one of the five police officers who were arrested and prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the disappearance was convicted to a three-year imprisonment in January 2006. What added insult to injury was the verdict of Appeal Court on 11 March 2011, which suddenly reversed the decision of the Court of First Instance for lack of sufficient evidence and ruled that the wife and children of Somchai Neelaphaijit are not eligible to exercise their rights as the aggrieved party. This decision is nothing but a denial of his family’s right to uncover the truth and to seek justice.
- Category: Statements
Empower the Women-Victims, End Impunity for Enforced Disappearance
Today, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the world in celebrating the 101st anniversary of the International Women’s Day. The AFAD as a regional federation of eleven member-organizations from different Asian countries pays tribute to all women and their indispensable role in society particularly in the struggle to end enforced disappearances worldwide.