Regent Hotel, Munich, Germany -- First and foremost, in the name of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), which is the focal point of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), I would like to thank the World Uygur Congress, the Society for Threatened Peoples, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples’ Organizations and the National Endowment for Democracy for inviting me to this conference.  Amidst the many tasks at hand, in the spirit of solidarity, we were honored to accept the invitation.  To be honest, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a federation of organizations working directly on the issue of enforced disappearances, owing to its limited resources, still has to know more about enforced disappearances of Uyghur people.  Our participation in this conference is hopefully a beginning of a more profound solidarity with the Uyghur people in the years to come.

Due to intense repression in China consequently resulting in security problems, coupled with the limited resources of our Federation, language barrier and communication problems, the cooperation we once had with the Tiananmen Mothers was not sustained.  AFAD, whose Secretariat is based in the Philippines, has member-organizations in Bangladesh, India (particularly Jammu and Kashmir), Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and Timor Leste, is not knowledgeable on the issue of the enforced disappearances and killings of the Uyghur people.   The information available in the internet and listening to your stories yesterday and today confirms what our Latin American counterparts say:   “ we are one in the same pain, in the same struggle, in the same victory towards the realization of our common dream for a world without disappeared people.”

The role assigned to me here is to comment on what I heard so far from the first two speakers and I would like to add, on what I heard yesterday, too and relate these with the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in other Asian countries.  Enforced disappearance is used by the Chinese government and all governments in countries where our Federation is present, to stifle dissent.  Enforced disappearance has a chilling effect certainly on the disappeared people, their families and relatives, their community and the greater society.  I personally experienced this myself when my husband briefly disappeared and was released because of the escape of a co-detainee.  After my husband’s release, we had to work underground for a year with fears that the disappearance would happen again.  For families whose loved ones remain disappeared, the pain of waiting, the uncertainty of their loved ones’ whereabouts, the fear of the possibility of death, not to mention the economic impact on the family if the disappeared were breadwinners – these are some of the devastating consequences of this crime against humanity never to be repeated in history.  This pain is universal, suffered by all families of the disappeared in any part of the world.

From the presentation of Dr. Emet, the deportation of Uyghurs to China, their migration to Thailand and their massive migration to Central Asia are distinct characteristics of the situation of Uyghurs, making them vulnerable to various forms of human rights violations, enforced disappearances included.   The persecution these Uyghurs suffer from the Chinese government and the Thai police and the denial of their identities by Uzbekistan are among the forms of violations they suffer with the imminent risk of being subjected to enforced disappearance.  The diaspora of Uyghurs to Central Asia and Southeast Asia have indeed made them victims to Chinese-initiated purges committed in the name of nationalism.  Their deportation back to China by other governments such as Kazakhstan, Nepal and Cambodia for example, has all the more put them outside the protection of the law and has made them vulnerable to enforced disappearances and other forms of human rights violations, including death penalty.  The recent non-permission of entry of 18 Uyghurs by the Turkish government, many of whom are women and children are among the many forms of maltreatment  of many States against the Uyghurs.

The pictures we see on the walls of this room are a reminder of the liberty deprived by the government of China of these men and women who could have greatly contributed to society’s development.  They remind us of the violation of the right to life, to a family, to a decent job, to community and social life. For the concerned families, these pictures are like shadows that would not leave them in their never ending search for their disappeared loved ones.  The very sight of them is chilling because enforced disappearance could happen to anyone of us – to you and to me.    It is unfortunate from what I heard from the presentations here that Uyghurs are all the more vulnerable to enforced disappearances, which is one of the cruellest forms if not the cruellest form of human rights violation.

The story of the enforced disappearances and killings of Uyghurs after the July 5, 2009 protest occurred already after the adoption of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances in 2009.  Other States Parties to the Convention on Enforced Disappearances could have called the attention of the Chinese government, which ironically is a member of the UN Human Rights Council and which has ratified a number of human rights instruments and put it to international shame.  The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, whose mandate is the Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and unanimously adopted by all States in 1992, could have made a big report out of it had it officially received information of individual cases and general allegations from victims and NGOs because this is definitely a violation of the 1992 Declaration.

Let me share with you some examples, in countries where we work, of fear, intimidation and coerced conformation which, like the Chinese government, are intentionally being instilled in the hearts and minds of the victims and their families.  Let me cite a few countries:

• In Indonesia, some families of victims of the 1965 anti-communist massacre, resulting in deaths and disappearances of many people are still leaving in constant fear.  Almost half a century has passed, but a traumatized witness to this gruesome massacre continuously hide underneath his bed daily and lives a life of never ending trauma and fear that the perpetrators might come back to kill him.
• In South Korea, mere association with those who were disappeared by North Korean government means discrimination in the work place and in schools.
• In the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, “half widows” are associated with those who were disappeared and labelled as enemies of the state, thus, are stigmatized by society and considered as eyesores, and thus, isolated.  
• In Sri Lanka, the massive disappearances of people create an atmosphere of fear and a sense of insecurity and instability of the families of the victims and the greater society.
• In the Philippines, a brother of a witness to the disappearance of a priest who disappeared during the Marcos regime, was killed because he exactly looked like his brother.  This killing warned other possible witnesses against coming out and telling the truth.

Enforced disappearances occur in the common context of poverty and social injustice; of war against terrorism and, distinct in the Uyghur context, of discrimination in ethnicity, culture, religion and language.  In the Asian countries that I mentioned, most of the victims come from the poor, who were labelled as subversives and enemies of the state.  A tool to stifle dissent, enforced disappearance causes multiple violations of human rights and destroys the very fabric of the family, the community and the greater society.  In the name of national security and campaign against terrorism, it cheapens and worse still, totally disregards the value of life and liberty.

Let me recall that in the drafting and negotiation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance at the UN in Geneva from 2003 to 2005, China was the most difficult government.  Its representative opposed the right to truth and the right to justice even at the very end of the three-year process.  I clearly remember the most tensed atmosphere during the process when the representative of China insisted to include national security as a justification to commit enforced disappearances, which was vehemently opposed by both NGOs and government representatives alike.  The Chinese representative, angry for what she termed as “ having been insulted, which never occurred in her entire diplomatic career” called for a break. China’s desire was never carried.  China is really bent on violating human rights no matter what the costs in order to advance its interests at the expense of poor people, including Uyghurs.

According to the 2013 report of the UN WGEID, 84 countries have outstanding cases of enforced disappearances, majority of which are Asian countries that submitted the highest number of cases in recent years.  Ironically, Asian states, bereft of strong regional human rights mechanisms for protection,   refuse to sign and ratify the Convention because being perpetrators of enforced disappearances, doing so is tantamount to suicide if their very agents authorized to commit violations, are punished, thus causing its embarrassment before the international community.

Moreover, in this said report, in the paragraphs under China, the following cases were reported:

Urgent appeals

26. On 9 August 2013, the Working Group transmitted an urgent appeal concerning a pattern across the country of arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment in detention and incommunicado detention as well as intimidation of human rights defenders and activists.

27. On 1 October 2013, the Working Group transmitted a second urgent appeal, concerning allegations that two individuals had been prohibited from travelling to Geneva to attend a training seminar on United Nations mechanisms, and further allegations that one of them had been subjected to enforced disappearance.

28. On 22 October 2013, the Working Group transmitted a third urgent appeal, concerning the arrest and detention of 20 individuals, some of whom had disappeared, in connection with their participation in peaceful assemblies or human rights campaigns in various parts of the country.

Press release

29. On 16 October 2013, the Working Group issued a press release concerning alleged reprisals against activists linked to the universal periodic review of China. In the press release, the experts expressed serious concern at reports that Chinese human rights defenders had suffered reprisals for seeking to participate in a major United Nations human rights assessment of China. The Working Group was, in particular, concerned that information on the detention of one individual had reportedly not been made available to that person’s family.

Like in many countries, there is a problem of underreporting and the paragraphs under China seem to be isolated cases.  None of the paragraphs, unfortunately, mentions about the enforced disappearance of the Uyghurs – a situation worth reflecting on by this conference as a concrete action point both in the near and long term future.  This and possible other strategies will be discussed in Panel V this afternoon.

 Finally, let me end with a challenge, quoting again the mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared in Argentina saying:  “There is no useless pain.”  I would like to add that fear is intentionally instilled by governments and in your case, by the Chinese government.  Much as there is no useless pain, there too, is no useless fear.   Let us turn fear into courage in the continuing struggle for truth, justice, reparation for those who disappeared and whose memory must never ever be forgotten.  Doing so will help guarantee that enforced disappearance will never ever be repeated to the Uyghurs and to anybody.  Then and only then will the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances be fully exercised according to the letter and spirit of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.