Human Rights Online Philippines

AFAD expresses concern over the delisting of cases in UNWGEID

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) expresses serious concerns over the proposal of the government of the Philippines to delist 625 cases from 1975 to 2012 of enforced or involuntary disappearances from the records of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID).

Even before the news broke out, AFAD, having meetings with the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN in Geneva, suspected that the purpose of the Philippine Mission in meeting the WGEID in Sarajevo was to “clarify” the existing 625 cases because the latter expressed that such cases were old cases that occurred during the Marcos period. The news from the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the suspicion.

Although it may appear that the Philippine government is taking a step towards engaging with the UNWGEID, it is an attempt to suppress the truth and conceal the fate of the disappeared. This decision by the Philippine Mission has come without credible investigations into the cases and thus it points to its dubious intentions. Before making the proposal to the WGEID, the Philippine Government could have coordinated with the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and NGOs that have direct contacts with the family members of the disappeared, who will be affected by the delisting.

Enforced disappearance is a continuing crime. Section 21 of RA 10353 provides that “An act constituting enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be considered a continuing offence as long as the perpetrators continue to conceal the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared person and such circumstances have not been determined with certainty.” The Article 8 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance likewise provides for the continuing character of the crime.

Delisting cases is tantamount to deleting evidence of the disappearance, thus is contrary to the right to truth enshrined in the Convention. Moreover, it is contrary to the very elements of transitional justice, which are truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
The families of the disappeared have the right to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones. It is their right to be informed about every step of the investigation that is initiated in case of disappearance and the results of the investigation. For the families of the disappeared, who have fought for long for truth and justice, this proposal by the Philippine government is disappointing as it takes away hopes of justice.

The delisting of the cases would mean impunity of the perpetrators and will not ensure that this is not repeated in the future. It defeats the very purpose of the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act, which the Philippine Government enacted in 2012.
AFAD urges the Philippine Government to not serve as a negative example to other Asian governments to likewise delist cases, but instead pose itself as a model to its co-UN members by considering first and foremost in all its actions the interest of victims of human rights violations.

Finally, AFAD urges the Philippine government to finally respond to the incessant official requests of the UNWGEID for official invitation to visit the country. Moreover, AFAD reiterates its call on the Philippine Government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

Signed by:

KHURRAM PARVEZ
Chairperson

MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary-General

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AFAD Statement on the Commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared 2016

May 23-27, 2016 – Every year on this week, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, as an integral part of the global movement against enforced disappearances, commemorates the International Week of the Disappeared. First commemorated by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) in the early 80s, the International Week of the Disappeared has been adopted by AFAD and has served as a venue to campaign against this abominable practice of enforced disappearance which has spread to at least, 88 countries, 34 of which are Asian countries.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006. Unfortunately, during these ten years, enforced disappearances continued to be perpetrated around the world, with Asia being the region with the highest number of reported cases and, still, the region with the least number of ratifications.

The Philippines continues to be the only country in Asia to have a domestic law criminalizing the commission of enforced disappearances. However, the full and effective implementation of the law remains an open challenge.

Enforced disappearance “is a timeless tragedy for relatives and communities abandoned to their plight, without any answer. It is a longing ordeal, with hope against all hope.” (Prof. Emmanuel Decaux, President of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances)

Around the world, family members of victims of this heinous crime continue to suffer from the consequences of the disappearance of their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. They continue to live in a state of limbo, trapped between the hope to see them return safely and the pain deriving from the possibility of their death.  The desaparecidos, whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown, continue to be deprived of life and liberty and violated of their civil political as well as economic, social and cultural rights.

The sufferings and tireless struggle of families of the disappeared for truth and justice have transformed many of them into courageous human rights defenders, standing up for their right to know the truth about the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. Amidst pain, their courage and determination in the pursuit for justice helped them face the terrible consequences brought about by the crime of enforced disappearance.

In South Asia, enforced disappearances have spread during the past few years. To give just few examples: in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kashmir the number of cases is constantly increasing, with human rights defenders being intimidated and even disappeared; in Sri Lanka last year the Working Group denounced the secret detention camps present in the country and the huge number of families in this small country continue to search for their disappeared loved ones and to cry for justice.

In South East Asia, particularly in Thailand, since the military coup of 2014, a practice of short term enforced disappearances has been carried out together with arbitrary arrests, incommunicado military detention and military trials for lese majeste.   In other Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Timor-Leste,  cases of the past remain unresolved.

AFAD and its member organizations will continue carry on the struggleagainst the almost complete impunity surrounding this crime, to keep raising awareness on the crime of enforced disappearance as well as campaigning for the signing and ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances across Asia.

On this occasion, AFAD’s continuing struggle to attain its goal of realizing a world without desaparecidoswill be a fitting tribute to the disappeared and their families.On this week, AFAD’smessage to all victims is to remind them that they are not alone in the struggle, that they have not been forgotten and that truth and justice are and will always remain AFAD priorities.
AFAD also reiterates its call for States to express genuine commitment to truth, justice and guarantees of non-recurrence by ratifying the Convention on Enforced Disappearances and taking concrete steps in putting a stop to the sufferings of the relatives of the disappeared and preventing such pain from ever being inflicted again in the future.

KHURRAM PARVEZ                         MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Chairperson                                     Secretary-General

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End enforced disappearances,
End social and economic injustice!

10 December 2015 – On this 67th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) condemns all forms of State violence that are systematically committed against peoples all over the world. The global structure that perpetuates wealth and progress for the few comes at the price of the suffering of millions— of peoples displaced, dispossessed and made disposable. On this occasion, AFAD vows to work fully for the promotion and protection of human rights, with emphasis on the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.

Tens of thousands of mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, sisters, brothers and friends have been snatched away from their loved ones and from their lives since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) reports of 42,889 active cases it has received from 84 states, a number that only foreshadows thousands of other cases that have not yet been reported. This global malady had urged the United Nations to adopt the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and to officially recognize August 30 as the International Day of the Disappeared.

Between the 70s to the early 90s in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, enforced disappearances have been the governments’ weapon of choice to silence those who challenge injustices. The Philippines’ Marcos and Indonesia’s Suharto dictatorial regimes, for instance, committed enforced disappearances as a means to eliminate those who threaten their political power and challenge the economic injustices at the time, including farmers, labor union leaders, church people, indigenous peoples and student activists.

The fall of those dictatorships has not put an end to the practice of enforced disappearances. The continuous waging of imperialist wars that only seek to maintain the global hegemonic order has resulted in the calloused commission of enforced disappearances for the same purpose as they have always served: to sow fear amongst the people and stifle resistance and dissent. The most recent attacks in Syria, which have killed and displaced many, manifest the same war that is being justified as the “War on Terror” has resulted in more than 5,000 cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. To date, the number of enforced disappearances in the Middle East and Africa that are linked to the War on Terror is difficult to approximate, but a report released by the Human Rights Watch[1] has provided a list of names of victims of enforced disappearances who, according to evidence, are being detained in Guantánamo

Asia bears the brunt of the phenomenon of enforced disappearances. As per 2015 report of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, out of the total number of 42,889 active cases, 25,706 came from Asia. 30 Asian countries out of 94 countries world-wide have submitted about 60% of the total number of active cases totally submitted from different parts of the globe. A region with the highest number of outstanding cases submitted to the UN, Asia is bereft of strong regional human rights mechanisms for protection and has the least number of ratifications to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Philippines is the only Asian country that has a law criminalizing enforced disappearances, but its full implementation remains a challenge.

In this context, AFAD believes that to put an end to enforced disappearances, the causes of social, political and economic injustice must be eradicated. The UN WGEID underscored the link between enforced disappearances and social and economic rights, and the importance of addressing the latter alongside the struggle against enforced disappearances, in a report [2]in July 2015. According to the study, the indivisibility of enforced disappearance and socio-economic rights can be seen in the vulnerability and the marking of the poor and marginalized—and those who fight for the social and economic rights—as targets in enforced disappearances.

In order to realize a world without desaparecidos, enforced disappearances must be fought against as a crime not only against the individual who has been disappeared, and to their families who suffer from the unceasing grief and anguish worsened by their forced state of destitution and oblivion on the fate or whereabouts of their disappeared loved one—moreover, it must be struggled against as a crime against the community and the greater society. The States’ use of enforced disappearances requires that all people—from the families of the disappeared; to social justice activists and human rights defenders; to farmers, workers, women, LGBTQ; from Asia to Europe, to the Americas and Africa—unite in calling on putting an end to this grave and inhuman violation and to the social and economic conditions to which it is inextricably linked.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) renews its call for the universal ratification and implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances that would make States accountable to helping families of the disappeared find truth and justice, as well as protect their people from being subjected to this heinous crime. Moreover, it calls on all states to recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and enact and implement domestic laws that criminalize enforced disappearance. AFAD likewise calls on States to fully honor their commitments to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

67 long years have passed since the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris. Notwithstanding progress in human rights, the world has yet to see the full respect of the universality, indivisibility and inter-dependence of human rights. The right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance still remains an empty dream.

[1] HRW’s “Off the Record” was released in 2007. See the report at https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/06/07/record/us-responsibility-enforced-disappearances-war-terror

[2] The “Study on enforced or involuntary disappearances and economic, social and cultural rights” was an addendum to the WGEID’s report during the Human Rights Council’s 30th Session. See the full text of the study here: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/152/87/PDF/G1515287.pdf?OpenElement

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