Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
issued a statement on 28 May 2009 urging countries to sign and ratify
the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance. According to the UN, there were cases of
enforced disappearances in 21 Asian countries last year.
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
issued a statement on 28 May 2009 urging countries to sign and ratify
the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance. According to the UN, there were cases of
enforced disappearances in 21 Asian countries last year.
Fr. Rudy Romano, Jonas Burgos, Wiji Thukul,
Somchai Neelaphaijit, Gao Zhishing, Mirhaj ud-Din Peerzada, Mina Sunwaar,
Masood Janjua, Father Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown… They are a
few among the countless desaparecidos from all over the world,
whom we especially honor this week, on the occasion the International
Week of the Disappeared. Plucked from the bosom of their families,
deprived of life and liberty and of the contribution they could have
continued to share with their families and the greater society, they are
stripped of all human rights. Their disappearance remains unresolved and
their number continues to rise with each passing day. Each desaparecido
is not just a part of cold statistics, but is a human being whose
family, relatives, friends, community and society are made to suffer for
the uncertainty of his or her fate.
We remember the desaparecidos. They are the reason for the
existence of our Federation, the very inspiration that moves us to tread
uncertain paths to truth, justice, redress and the reconstruction of
their historical memory. Many of them had earned the ire of the
Machiavellian forces of our times. Their perpetrators made them
disappear because in one way or another, they were involved or suspected
to have been involved with the struggle for social transformation.
On this week, we take a bit of time to pause… to ponder… to reflect on
the very people who are, in spirit, giving life to our Federation. In
times of adversities, manifested in the difficulty to face the
perpetrators of enforced disappearances and their masters, we find
strength and inspiration in them whom we firmly believe are continuously
guiding us in our work. We hold hands with our sisters and brothers in
Latin America, Africa, Europe and in the rest of the world in our
unified struggle to realize our much-cherished dream for a world without
desaparecidos.
The 2008 report of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances has recorded 21 Asian countries that
submitted outstanding cases of enforced disappearances during the past
year. This grim reality is all the more aggravated by the absence of
regional human rights mechanisms in the Asian region, which is the only
remaining continent of the world bereft of instruments for protection.
In view of this, it is imperative that the United Nations Convention for
the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which was
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2009, be
entered into force at the soonest time possible. It has garnered 81
signatures and 10 ratifications. We need ten more ratifications for it
to enter into force.
However, amidst the dark night of the disappeared in Asia, since the
historic signing of the Convention in Paris, France on 7 February 2007,
no additional Asian country has signed, so far. In the Asian region,
only four governments have signed and none has ratified. It is indeed,
alarming that while the phenomenon continues to be unresolved in many
Asian countries and unabated in a number of other countries in the
region, Asian governments are not supporting this very important
international treaty.
On this 2009 commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared,
we renew our vow to continue their cause by vigorously campaigning for
the immediate entry into force of the Convention. Much remains to be
done in this uphill struggle to have the right to truth and the right
not to be subjected to enforced disappearances be fully respected
universally through the entry into force of the Convention, the
ratification of as many governments as possible and the enactment of
domestic laws criminalizing enforced disappearances.
As we commemorate the International Week of the Disappeared, together
with our Latin American sisters and brothers and the rest of the
families of the disappeared world-wide, we chant:
"Desaparecidos, Presentes."
By our continuing struggle, the desaparecidos shall forever
remain present in our minds and in our hearts.
Their memory is like a shadow that will never leave us.
Long live the desaparecidos!
To read the complete statement, please click here (AFAD website).
