The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), in its 2011 report, states that there are 53,788 outstanding cases of enforced disappearance. Each case is not only a part of the global statistics on enforced disappearance. It signifies a flagrant violation of the most basic rights to life and liberty; the right to a family, to a community, to a decent work and many more. From the testimonies of those who surfaced alive, enforced disappearance subjects people to torture, degrading and inhuman treatment. Not only does it instill excruciating pain and sufferings to the immediate victims, it also causes pain and anxiety to the surviving families and relatives. Especially if the victims were breadwinners, the disappearance not only causes emotional and psychological anguish, but also economic dislocation to the surviving families.
The global magnitude of the crime urged the United Nations to officially commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared every 30th of August. It is a meaningful way to honor all victims of enforced disappearance and to tell the world of the seriousness of the offense and ensure non-repetition. Significant to note is that prior to the United Nations’ official recognition of this day, for three decades, the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) had been commemorating this occasion since its founding Congress in San José, Costa Rica in 1981. Also, organizations and associations of families of the disappeared from other continents have been commemorating this occasion until its official recognition by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010.
The ICAED is especially concerned with the cases in Bangladesh, India, Mali, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria where enforced disappearances are reported to be happening on a widespread scale. It is likewise concerned with the still unresolved cases in many other countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Nepal, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru and in many African countries, including Algeria, Egypt and Morocco - a situation that cultivates the culture of impunity.
On 23 December 2010 the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention) entered into force. Almost two years later, the number of States Parties is still too low vis-à-vis the 87 countries with outstanding cases of enforced disappearance mentioned in the 2011 report of the WGEID. Further, a considerable number of States Parties has not recognized the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) to receive and consider individual and interState communications– a reality which is a cause of real concern for the ICAED.
As a tribute to the world’s disappeared on this International Day of the Disappeared, the ICAED calls on all States:
– To ratify the Convention – without making any prohibited reservation - and to recognize the competence of the CED to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of victims and from other states parties;
– To adopt all measures to prevent enforced disappearance from recurring, including making it criminal under national law;
– To establish the truth on past cases;
– To conduct investigations of cases and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, to prosecute and sanction perpetrators and to provide redress to victims;
– To cooperate with the UN WGEID.
As the international community observes the International Day of the Disappeared, the ICAED, a coalition of 41 member-organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Euro-Mediterranean Region, Middle East, North America and Latin America, renews its vow to continue its indefatigable search and struggle for truth and justice.
Enforced disappearance is one of the worst human rights violations. A huge number of people throughout the world are affected by this scourge. It is imperative for civil society and governments to forge solidarity in bringing to an end the practice of enforced disappearance and to ensure that the right to truth, justice, reparation and memory are guaranteed.
Stop Enforced Disappearances NOW!