Tag Archives: Enforced Disappearances

[Statement] The Importance of Eliminating Enforced Disappearance in Asia | by Asia Alliance Against Torture

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Joint Statement on the International Day of the Disappeared: The Importance of Eliminating Enforced Disappearance Practices in Asia
Asia Alliance Against Torture
August 30, 2021

Today, on the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Asia Alliance Against Torture (A3T) condemns the practice of enforced disappearances that continues to occur in Asia. It is a cruel practice that perpetuates impunity, where the government shows no political will to investigate and solve cases of enforced disappearance. Marking today’s annual commemoration of the Day of the Disappeared, the A3T would like to highlight the importance of eliminating enforced disappearance practices in Asia.

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[Event] Facebook Live! International Day of the Disappeared: Remembering their Heroism and Activism | CAED

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Facebook Live! International Day of the Disappeared: Remembering their Heroism and Activism

The event aims to forge unity while honoring and paying tribute to the desaparecidos as well as expressing solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of families and relatives around the world who are searching and waiting for their disappeared loved ones to return home.

Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance (CAED) believes that it is imperative for us to unite, draw inspiration from the lives of the disappeared, and together help their families especially in these unprecedented times.

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[Statement] Families of disappeared decry Philippine government’s proposed delisting of 625 enforced disappearance cases from UN WGEID records – FIND

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Families of disappeared decry Philippine government’s proposed delisting of 625 enforced disappearance cases from UN WGEID records – FIND

The proposal of the Philippine government to delist hundreds of Filipinos who were disappeared from 1975 to 2012 from the records of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) smacks of deceit. Sweeping these hapless victims under the rug will never hide the truth that it was their courageous resistance to repression and injustice that led to their involuntary disappearance.

The delisting of 625 cases derogates the continuing character of enforced disappearances and the general exemption of their prosecution from the statute of limitations guaranteed under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012 (RA 10353).

While the Philippine government takes pride in having enacted the first and only comprehensive law against enforced disappearance in Asia, it brazenly disregards pertinent essential provisions of the law that give hope to the families of the disappeared for justice notwithstanding the passage of time.

Section 21 of RA 10353 provides that “An act constituting enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be considered a continuing offense 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.” Section 22 states that “The prosecution of persons responsible for enforced or involuntary disappearance shall not prescribe unless the victim surfaces alive. In which case, the prescriptive period shall be twenty-five (25) years from the date of such reappearance.”

The deletion scheme apparently hatched in the Office of the President is of dubious legality. It mocks the judicial process as it puts the cart before the horse.
Instead of opting for the preposterous magic slate deletion, the Presidential Human Rights Committee should have first recommended to the Inter-agency Committee (IAC) chaired by the Department of Justice the conduct of a thorough and impartial investigation.

The IAC which is mandated under Administrative Order No. 35 to conduct investigations into extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other
grave human rights abuses, should have informed the concerned families and those who sought the intervention of the UN WGEID, like the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) among others, of the investigation, its findings and recommendations.

The families of the victims and other persons and entities with legitimate interest in these enforced disappearance cases have the right to know the initiation, conduct, progress and results of the investigation. They should have been afforded the opportunity to help shed light on the circumstances that led to the disappearance and establish the culpability of the perpetrators.

If the Duterte administration desires to clear the Philippines of its reputation of having the biggest number in Southeast Asia of enforced disappearance allegations reported to the UN WGEID, then it must adhere to international norms of seeking truth and justice. Duplicity by any party should not sully well-meaning UN mechanisms.

FIND strongly urges the Philippines to judiciously reconsider pursuing its delisting proposal to the UN WGEID even as the organization believes that the Working Group will remain faithful to its mandate to serve the cause of the disappeared and their families.

NILDA L. SEVILLA
FIND Co-Chairperson
0922-8286153

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Include your full name, e-mail address and contact number.

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[Event] Kite-flying, family day, in commemoration of International Week of the Disappeared -AFAD

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Who: All CAED Members, public, everyone!
What: Kite-flying, family day, in commemoration of International Week of the Disappeared
Where: UP Diliman, Sunken Garden
When: Sunday, May 22, 10am

afad kite flying

 

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[Statement] End the list! Sign and Ratify the Convention Against Disappearances Immediately!-CAED

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CAED Statement on the International Week of the Disappeared
“End the list! Sign and Ratify the Convention Against Disappearances Immediately!”

Jonas Burgos, Rudy Romano, Hermon Lagman, Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver, Artemio Ayala, Arnold Dangkiasan, Edgardo Estojero, Renato Topacio, Sherlyn Cadapan, Karen Empeño, Leo Velasco, Manuel Manaog, the list of the disappeared goes on with no end in sight. They may have been silenced, but their friends and families continue to speak up. And now, their friends and families demand that government end the list immediately.

11265477_10153314294307673_8178387056375191908_oIn observance of the International Week of the Disappeared, the Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance (CAED) stands in solidarity with other organizations around the world in pushing for the universal ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPAPED). CAED calls on the Philippine Government to sign and ratify the Convention immediately!

“In a country plagued by impunity and a weak justice system, it is imperative that we ratify the Convention as it will complement our domestic law,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, CAED Convenor and Secretary-General of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). The Philippines is the first country in Asia that enacted an anti-enforced disappearance law (RA 10353), and yet no perpetrator has been convicted under such law.

“The law is there, but it is not being implemented fully,” said Nilda Lagman-Sevilla, Co-Chairperson of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), and sister of Atty. Hermon Lagman who disappeared in 1977. “We need the Convention to strengthen legal protection from enforced disappearance,” she added.

“If the President is committed to upholding human rights as he claims, I see no reason for the Philippines not to sign and ratify the Convention,” said Ron de Vera, AFAD Country Coordinator for the Philippines. De Vera’s father was disappeared on Fathers’ Day in 1990 during the administration of Pres. Aquino’s mother, the late Corazon C. Aquino. “Let this be the President’s legacy to our families. Otherwise, his administration will just be another long stretch along the ‘tuwid na daan’ (straight path*) to empty promises,” De Vera said.

CAED demands a stop to enforced disappearances. End the list! Sign and ratify the Convention against disappearances immediately!

Signed and authenticated,

Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
Convenor
Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance

*“Tuwid na Daan” (Straight Path) is Pres. Aquino’s anti-corruption slogan

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[From the web] ASEAN and AICHR: End Enforced Disappearance in Southeast Asia!-Focus on the Global South

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On 24th April 2015 at the ASEAN Peoples Forum in Kuala Lumpur, NGOs (including Focus on the Global South), CSOs and ASEAN People organized a workshop on Enforced Disappearance in ASEAN to raise awareness of the barriers victims face in accessing justice and the mechanisms ASEAN can use to stop enforced disappearances.

Photos from Focus on the Global South website

Photos from Focus on the Global South website

Below is the statement signed by individuals and organizations and sent to ASEAN / AICHR (ASEAN Intergovenmental Commission on Human Rights), urging them to address this pressing matter and take into account the recommendations to end enforced disappearance in ASEAN.

—-

ASEAN and AICHR: End Enforced Disappearance in Southeast Asia!

ASEAN People’s Forum 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

24 April, 2015

Enforced disappearances continue to occur unabated in most ASEAN member countries and illustrate an alarming and worrisome pattern of human rights violations that target citizens, community leaders, human rights defenders, environmental and student activists, and even children.

In all cases of enforced disappearance, government and law enforcement authorities, the military and other state agents have denied knowledge of the crime and the victims’ fate or whereabouts. Governments have failed to conduct thorough, credible, and impartial investigations into these disappearances and bring perpetrators to justice. In most cases, evidence suggests direct involvement, complicity, or acquiescence of government security forces (military, police, and other state agents) in the actual disappearance as well as covering up the crime.

The families of the victims suffer tremendous mental anguish, not knowing the conditions of their loved ones and even whether they are alive or dead. Enforced disappearance results in psychological trauma, tremendous economic and social dislocation, and fragmentation within families. It is also used as a weapon to spread fear in society and to silence those who raise questions about human rights violations.  Fear and insecurity among families and acquaintances of the disappeared make it difficult to accurately document cases of enforced disappearance, as well gather crucial evidence to ensure the safe return of victims and punishment of the perpetrators.

Report of the Working Group on Enforced of Involuntary Disappearance 2014 in seven ASEAN countries:

Country: Number of Cases

PHILIPPINES: 625
THAILAND: 81
INDONESIA: 163
CAMBODIA: 1
LAO PDR: 2
MYANMAR: 2
TIMOR LESTE: 428

The actual numbers of disappearances are unknown since many remain unreported by relatives and witnesses for fear of reprisal from state authorities, as well as a lack of national/international authorities to whom they can report such disappearances. A number of cases over the past ten years, however, have directed national and international attention towards enforced disappearances.

In the Philippines, a farmer and leading activist with the Alliance of Farmers in Bulacan Province, Mr. Jonas Burgos, was abducted by five unknown individuals on 28 April 2007 while having lunch alone at a restaurant inside a shopping mall. It was later determined by the Court of Appeals that the abduction of Jonas Burgos was a case of enforced disappearance. On 18 March 2013, Major Harry BaliagaJr. of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was positively identified by a witness as one of the perpetrators. The said officer was imprisoned, but then released on bail and promoted to lieutenant colonel. On 12 April 2013, the Supreme Court ordered the Philippine army’s Chief of Staff to disclose the whereabouts of the soldiers believed involved in the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, but the Philippine army has ignored the order and no one has been held accountable for the disappearance.

In Thailand, Mr.Somchai Neelapaijit, a prominent lawyer who defended the rights of mostly ethnic Malay Muslim in southern border provinces of Thailand, was abducted by police officials on 12th March 2004 on Ramkhamhaeng Road in Bangkok. On 12January 2006, a Bangkok criminal court convicted one police officer of a minor charge of coercion and sentenced him to three years in prison, but released him on bail.  On 11 March 2011, the Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of the police officer and upheld the acquittal of the other four. On 17 April 2014, Mr. Pholachi Rakchongcharoen, aka “Billy”, an activist promoting the rights to land of indigenous peoples, was arrested by the head of Kengkrachan National Park. One day later, the head of the national park confirmed that Billy had been detained for interrogation proposes and claimed that he had been released. However, no evidence has been provided confirming Billy’s release and nobody has seen him since.

In Kachin State in Northern Myanmar, Ms.Naw Sumlut Roi Ja,  an ethnic Kachin resident ofMomauk Township, was abducted by the Burmese army on 28 October 2011. Numerous petitions have been filed asking authorities to disclose SumlutRoiJa’s whereabouts and fate. Both military and civilian authorities have consistently refused to investigate Sumlut Roi Ja’s disappearance and prosecute the soldiers who abducted her.

On 23 January 2007, Mr. Sompawn Khantisouk, a well-known eco-tourism business owner in Luang Nam ThaProvince in the Lao PDR, was abducted in broad daylight by people in police uniforms. To date, the Lao government has not disclosed any information about what happened to him. Mr. Sombath Somphone, an eminent  Lao civil society leader and recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award was last seen on the evening of 15 December 2012 in Vientiane after traffic police stopped his vehicle, other persons without uniforms then drove him away in another vehicle.The events were recorded on CCTV. Despite claims that it is investigating Sombath’s disappearance, the Lao government has provided no meaningful information about the case.

Sixteen year-old Khem Sophath has been missing since 03 January 2014 when Cambodian security forces opened fire on striking garment factory workers near the Canadia Industrial Park in southwest Phnom Penh. In the crackdown, four workers were killed and 25 others suffered bullet wounds. Sophath was last seen on the morning of the events, his chest covered in blood, lying on the ground on VengSreng Road near the Canadia Industrial Park.

In Indonesia, Dedek Khairudin was taken from his home in PangkalanBrandan, North Sumatra, on 28 November 2013 by local military personnel. According to Dedek’s family, he was arrested and detained because the soldiers believed he knew of the whereabouts of a suspect who had allegedly stabbed a soldier.  The following day, 29 November, Dedek’s family visited the police and the military headquarters in PangkalanBrandan to inquire about his whereabouts, but the authorities denied having him in custody.

Enforced disappearance violates numerous internationally recognized human rights and, if part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, is considered a crime against humanity.

It is regrettable and unacceptable that ASEAN member states have remained conspicuously silent with regard to enforced disappearance. Only three ASEAN governments have signed the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and only Cambodia has ratified it. The Philippines is the only ASEAN country with a domestic law criminalizing enforced disappearances. The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has no rules and mechanisms to receive and address complaints of enforced disappearance.

We urge ASEAN and AICHR to urgently:

Break the silence on enforced disappearance and take immediate actions to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Encourage all ASEAN governments to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, and; apply the treaty into their domestic legislation and criminalize enforced disappearance.
Conduct serious and full investigations in to cases of enforced disappearance; hold accountable and prosecute perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law, and; provide reparations and psychosocial support to the victims’ families.
Amend the terms of reference of AICHR to ensure that the body effectively addresses human rights violations perpetrated by law enforcement bodies and state agents, including enforced disappearances.
Provisions to give teeth to the AICHR must include: 1) establishment of a review mechanism of the human rights performance of ASEAN member states; 2) enable AICHR to conduct country visits; and 3) allow the AICHR to receive, investigate, and address complaints of human rights violations in the ASEAN member states.

As ASEAN advances towards a common economic community, we remind the ASEAN governments and AICHR that they have obligations under international law to ensure that the human rights of all peoples in the ASEAN region are upheld and protected. Peoples in the ASEAN region should be able to look forward to a region of diverse cultures and faiths, united by peace, social-economic justice, democracy and ecological sustainability.

We ask the international community, civil society, human rights organizations and human rights defenders to support our efforts to put an end to this cruel and grave crime of impunity.

Signed by:

Organizations

1. Advocacy Forum – Nepal

2. American Friends Service Committee

3. Asian Human Rights Commission – Hong Kong

4. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD)

5. Association of Con Dau Parishioners

6. Boat People SOS

7. Cambodia Grassroots Cross Sector Network – Cambodia

8. Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee

9. The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association – ADHOC

10.  Campaign to Abolish Torture in Vietnam

11.  Coalition to Abolish Modern Day Slavery in Asia

12.  Defence for Human Rights – Pakistan

13.  Families of the Disappeared (FoD)

14.  Finnish Asiatic Society – Finland

15.  Focus on the Global South

16.  The Free Jonas Burgos Movement (FJBM) – Philippines

17.  Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington DC – United States

18.  HAK Association

19.  Human Rights Online Philippines – Philippines

20.  Imparsial – The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor

21.  International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)

22.  Justice for Peace Foundation – Thailand

23.  JSMP – Timor-Leste

24.  Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights – Philippines

25.  KilusanPaka Sa PambansanuDemokrasion  – Philippines

26.  Lilak (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights) – Philippines

27.  Land Core Group – Myanmar

28.  Odhikar – Bangladesh

29.  People’s Watch – India

30.  Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement – Philippines

31.  Rights, Inc- Philippines

32.  The Sombath Initiative

33.  Southern Peasant Federation – Thailand

34.  Toward Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance

35.  Vietnam Committee on Human Rights

36.  Vietnamese Women for Human Rights – Vietnam.

37.  Worker’s Information Center – Cambodia

38.  Women Peace Network Arakan and Justice for Women – Myanmar

39.  Yayasan LINTAS NUSA Batam – Indonesia

Individuals

40.  Vo Van Ai,President, Vietnam Committee on Human Rights – Vietnam

41.  Dr. Keith Barney, Lecturer, The Australian National University – Australia

42.  VachararutaiBoontinand– Thailand

43.  K.J. Brito Fernando, President of Families of the Disappeared

44.  Anne-Sophie Gindroz

45.  William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Defender and Freelance Journalist – United Kingdom

46.  Victoria Goh, former UNODC staff – Singapore

47.  Edeliza P Hermandez, Executive Director of the Medical Action Group – Philippines

48.  Philip Hirsch, Director of Mekong Research Group

49.  PoengkyIndarti, Executive Director of Imparsial – Indonesia

50.  PanjitKaewsawang, Feminist Activist – Thailand

51.  NaparatKranrattanasuit, Lecturer and researcher at Human Right and Peace Studies, Mahidol University – Thailand

52.  Margie Law, Mekong Monitor, Tasmania, Australia

53.  Max M.de Mesa, Chairperson, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates – Philippines

54.  Mugiyanto, Chair of the Board of Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) – Indonesia

55.  PadtheeraNarkurairattana- Thailand

56.  Shuimeng Ng, wife of Mr. SombathSomphone – Singapore

57.  SiaPhearum, Executive Director of the Housing Rights Task Force–  Cambodia

58.  Sor.RattanamaneePolkla, Human Rights Lawyer – Thailand

59.  BanpotThontiravong, PhD.  Institute of Human Right and Peace Studies, Mahidol University  – Thailand

60.  Huynh ThucVy –Vietnam

61.  YuyunWahyuningrum, Senior Advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights, Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) – Indonesia

62.  SuphatmetYunyasit, Institute of Human Right and Peace Studies, Mahidol University – Thailand

Source: http://focusweb.org/content/statement-calling-asean-and-aichr-end-enforced-disappearance-south-east-asia

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[Blog] Can NMM be an effective monitoring body? By Darwin Mendiola

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Can NMM be an effective monitoring body?
October 14, 2014
By Darwin Mendiola

Human rights violations particularly extra-legal killings (ELKs), enforced disappearances (EDs) and torture continue to occur in the country with total impunity.

Darwin 2
Until now, not a single person has been brought to justice. Even in high-profile cases which have been swiftly investigated, they only ended up in imposing of administrative sanctions against suspected perpetrators rather than filing of criminal charges.

The establishment of a National Monitoring Mechanism (NMM) could have been a significant step towards the effective prevention of these heinous offenses and breaking through the prevailing climate of impunity by finding resolutions to all these crimes.

In fact, it was one of the positive developments that the Philippine government cited in its report for the Universal Periodic Review in 2010. It even received huge international supports for funding and technical assistance.

However, after more than three years the creation of such body remains stalled and has only devolved into a mere mechanism of consultation and discussion on human rights issues instead of moving forward by ensuring that remedies are available to victims and their families as well as guaranteeing that impunity is addressed.

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP) as the national human rights institution is tasked to convene the relevant government agencies and non-government organizations to revive the effort of establishing an effective monitoring body.

But its creation was eventually overshadowed by issuance of the Administrative Order No. 35 series of 2012 creating the Inter-Agency Committee on Extra Judicial Killings (ELKs), Enforced Disappearances (EDs), Torture and other Grave Violation of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of Persons under the Department of Justice.

To make the NMM relevant, there is a need to resolve its complementation with AO 35 in order to avoid duplicating the function of monitoring the progress of specific cases and to provide the kind of information needed to push a criminal case involving an EJK, ED or torture to its resolution.

While the different stakeholders agreed that the NMM can still be a case-based monitoring mechanism to help identify the obstacles to pursuing accountability through our seemingly ineffective criminal justice system, but it should evolve into a more programmatic approach that includes human rights promotion and prevention of such violations and the provision of different services to victims and their families. The NMM can also provide an avenue for the substantive role of civil society and a significant degree of victim participation in the monitoring process.

However, this dilemma may have pushed the the CHRP to look the other way than just merely focusing its attention to the three major human rights violations (e.i. ELKs, EDs and Torture). For the CHRP, the NMM should be a comprehensive monitoring mechanism of determining government compliance with international human rights treaties in the government’s functions, systems and processes with the end in view of harmonizing them with the standards and principles of human rights and recommending appropriate measures and actions.

What the CHRP is trying to do is simply to extend its functions as the institutional human rights monitoring body to the NMM rather than making the NMM a unique body with specific goals and priorities.

While it is true that civil and political rights violations are related or caused by violations of other fundamental rights such as Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, but addressing these cases will require specific attentions and approaches especially in providing victims of such violations with adequate means of apportioning responsibility.

How the NMM can be an effective monitoring body with a specific or broader mandate, will really depend on how the stakeholders especially the state security forces are committed to work with due diligence.

Because in the end, the families of the victims are the ones who are left waiting with uncertainty, while they have not given up on their search for the missing, whether dead or alive, and seeking justice for those who were tortured and ill-treated.

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[Statement] SAPA Working Group on ASEAN calls on ASEAN to uphold human rights and investigate cases of enforced disappearances

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Solidarity for Asian Peoples Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN calls on ASEAN to uphold human rights and investigate cases of enforced disappearances
September 5, 2014

August 30 marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. In solidarity with the victims and families of those who have been disappeared, the SAPA Working Group on ASEAN urges ASEAN governments to bring an immediate end to enforced disappearances and ensure justice for the victims and their families.

Enforced or involuntary disappearance is one of the most heinous violations of human rights, akin to torture, and cruel and inhuman treatment. According to the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, an enforced disappearance happens when,

“persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law.”

When in captivity, victims of enforced disappearance are frequently subjected to violent and degrading treatment or torture, and live day-by-day in a state of hopeless fear, aware that their families do not know where they are and that normal legal protections are not available to them. The families of the victims suffer tremendous mental anguish, not knowing the conditions of their loved ones, or even whether they are alive or dead. Enforced disappearance is also used as a weapon to spread fear in society and to silence those who raise questions about human rights violations. Fear and insecurity among families and acquaintances of the disappeared make it difficult to accurately document cases of enforced disappearance, as well as gather crucial evidence to ensure the safe return of the victims and punishment of the perpetrators.

Enforced disappearances have been happening in the ASEAN region for several decades, under military dictatorships, in situations of territorial and natural resource conflicts, and in so called democracies, where victims are perceived to be threats to those in political power. In majority of the known cases of enforced disappearance, the lack of meaningful investigation and progress in delivering justice to victims and their families indicates the continuing impunity of the perpetrators.

Mr. SomchaiNeelapaijit, a Thai human rights lawyer defending five Thai Muslims who had been tortured by high-ranking police personnel, was abducted on a busy Bangkok road on 12 March 2004. Ten years later, those who masterminded and executed his disappearance still roam free. The Justice for Peace Foundation in Thailand estimates that since 2001, over 50 people have been disappeared and that men from ethnic minority groups are more vulnerable to enforced disappearance. On April 17, 2014, PorlajeeRakchongcharoen (also known as Billy) disappeared after being arrested by KaengKrachan National Park Officers in Phetchaburi. Park officers claimed that Billy had been taken for questioning regarding wild honey found in his possession and released shortly thereafter, and had no information regarding his whereabouts. On the day of his disappearance, Billy was travelling from his village in Kaengkrachan district to meet with Karen villagers to prepare for a court hearing in a lawsuit filed by the villagers against the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the head of Kaengkrachan National Park. No proper investigation has been conducted to locate Billy.

In neigbouring Laos and Myanmar, enforced disappearances are especially difficult to track. On January 23 2007, Sompawn Khantisouk an eco-tourism business owner in the capital town of Luang Nam Tha province in Laos, was abducted in broad daylight by people in police uniforms. Appeals by his family to government authorities to investigate the disappearance yielded no positive results and soon, Khantisouk?s family retreated into fearful silence. On the evening of December 15, 2012, Mr. Sombath Somphone, a well respected Lao development worker, was abducted from a police check point in broad public view in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. Captured on a CCTV camera positioned just ahead of the police post, the abduction sent shock waves across the world and elicited strong expressions of concern from governments, parliamentarians, United Nations agencies and eminent persons such as Desmond Tutu. To date however, the Lao Government has not conducted a meaningful investigation into the disappearance, nor has it accepted offers of forensic support from other countries to analyse the evidence. In both the above case, the Lao Government has concluded that the abductions were related to unspecified personal or business conflicts.

In the Philippines, more than 20 persons have been disappeared because of their political beliefs and involvement under the current government. During the time of the previous government, Jonas Burgos, son of a respected former journalist and defender of press freedom, was abducted at the food court of a shopping mall in Quezon City in 2007. Despite evidences pointing to the involvement of military personnel in his disappearance, impunity for the perpetrators prevails. University of the Philippines’ students Karen Empeño and Sheryl Cadapan were abducted while doing field research work in Bulacan in 2006. Testimonies by witnesses point to the soldiers as abductors and torturers/rapists of the two women.

The report of the Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on 4 August 2014 noted that enforced disappearance continues to be used across the world and that it is significantly underreported due to institutionalized systems of impunity, a practice of silence and restrictions on the work of civil society and threats, intimidation and reprisals against victims of enforced disappearance, including family members, witnesses and human rights defenders.

In light of the seeming inaction and lack of appropriate responses from governments in the region in the abovementioned cases of enforced disappearance, SAPA Working Group on ASEAN, is urging ASEAN to show its commitment to human rights and uphold Article 7 of the Charter which states that one of its purposes is to ?promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.?

If ASEAN wants to be seen as a credible and mature regional body in the eyes of the world then it should refrain from using the policy of non-interference as an excuse to ignore the worsening human rights situation in the region and enjoin the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to stop ignoring these cases and launch investigations to ferret out the truth about the cases of enforced disappearance in ASEAN.

Finally, we call on all ASEAN member governments to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, amend relevant domestic laws in accordance with the Convention and ensure the secure access of the victims and their families to truth, justice and remedy.

For more information please contact the SAPA Working Group on ASEAN:
Shalmalli Guttal, s.guttal@focusweb.org
Yap Swee Seng, detention@suaram.net
Corinna Lopa, clopa@seaca.net

http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/47/133
http://www.un.org/en/events/disappearancesday/background.shtml

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[Appeal] AICHR must take a stand against enforced/involuntary disappearances in the region -SAPA TFAHR

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26 April 2013

H.E. Pehin Dato Dr. Awang Hj. Ahmad bin Hj. Jumat
Chairperson
ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)
Jalan Subok, Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei Darussalam BD 2710
Tel: (673) 226 1177, 226 1291-5
Fax: (673) 226 1709, 2904
Email: aseanbru@mfa.gov.bn, bruneirep.aichr@gmail.com

Your Excellency,

Re: AICHR must take a stand against enforced/involuntary disappearances in the region

ForumAsia LogoThe Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacy – Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TFAHR) writes to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) again to convey our disappointment and regret at the AICHR’s continuing silence on the disappearance of prominent Laotian development worker and activist Sombath Somphone. SAPA TFAHR’s co-convenor, FORUM-ASIA, had previously written to you, on 4 January 2013 and on 1 February 2013, on the same matter[1]. Sombath’s disappearance now extends into the fifth month and it is highly lamentable that the primary organ charged with the promotion and protection of human rights in the region has refused to take a stand or even expressed any concern and solidarity.

We stress that the issue of enforced/involuntary disappearance is a human rights violation that not only occurs in Lao PDR, but is a regional concern that is endemic to ASEAN. You must be well aware of similar cases in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, where accountability for victims of political violence and disappearances remain elusive even until today.[2] In this context, any insistence of upholding the ASEAN principles of non-interference and territorial sovereignty over principles of human rights and accountability would be highly misplaced and unacceptable.

While the AICHR claims that it is not within its mandate to act on individual complaints, it can certainly at the very least develop a public position and plan of approach to address the issue of enforced/involuntary disappearances. Otherwise, it risks sending a message that such egregious human rights abuses are allowed to go on with impunity. Adopting a public position and plan of approach to address this issue is definitely well within the mandate and functions of the AICHR.[3]

It is high time that AICHR responds to questions of its relevance for human rights in the region. Staying silent on Sombath’s disappearance is a convenient but short-sighted approach because human rights violations related to land, natural resources and the environment are likely to increase as the region embarks on a zealous pursuit of economic development and integration towards 2015. The AICHR must stress to individual ASEAN member states on the urgent need for an enabling environment and democratic space for all human rights defenders, including development workers and civil society organizations, to do their legitimate work without fear of reprisals.

The AICHR’s Terms of Reference is due for a review in 2014, but it must not delay any longer to rethink its lackluster position on human rights. The disappearance of Sombath Somphone is not one that can be simply dismissed as yet another statistic because of the physical and mental anguish dealt to friends, family and the community at large. The basic and fundamental rights to life, liberty and security of the person must be upheld at all times.

We thus call on the AICHR to boldly confront the issue and take a stand against enforced/involuntary disappearances. Maintaining a veil of silence is neither constructive nor exemplary of a regional human rights body. We reassure you that continued pressure and attention will be applied on the AICHR and all relevant stakeholders to demand accountability on the disappearance of Sombath Somphone and other victims in the region. The integrity of the AICHR is at stake and it must take action decisively and promptly. Otherwise, the values and reputation of the AICHR will not stand up to scrutiny despite being in existence for five years.

If you require more information, please kindly contact Joses Kuan at tel: +66 83544 5166 or email: joses@forum-asia.org; or Atnike Sigiro at +62 8129401766 or email: atnike@forum-asia.org.

We thank you for your kind attention and hope to receive a reply from AICHR.

Yours truly,

Giyoun Kim
Acting Executive Director, FORUM-ASIA
Co-convenor of SAPA TFAHR

Chalida Tajaroensuk
Director, People’s Empowerment Foundation
Co-convenor of SAPA TFAHR

CC:
1. H.E. Le Loung Minh, Secretary-General of Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN)
2. H.E. Om Yentieng, Representative of Cambodia to AICHR
3. H.E. Mr. Rafendi Djamin, Representative of Indonesia to AICHR
4. H.E. Mr. Bounkeut Sangsomsak, Representative of Laos to AICHR
5. H.E. Dato’ Sri Dr. Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, Representative of Malaysia to AICHR
6. H.E. Amb. Kyaw Tint Swe, Representative of Myanmar to AICHR
7. H.E. Amb. Rosario Gonzales Manalo, Representative of the Philippines to AICHR
8. H.E. Amb. Chan Heng Chee, Representative of Singapore to AICHR
9. H.E. Mr. Seree Nonthasoot, Representative of Thailand to AICHR
10. H.E. Amb.Le Thi Thu, Representative of Vietnam to AICHR
11. Ms. Leena Ghosh, Assistant Director, AIPA, ASEAN Foundation, AICHR and Other
ASEAN Associated Entities Division, ASEAN Secretariat

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[Statement] Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law: A Precious Christmas Gift to All Filipino Desaparecidos -AFAD

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Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law:
A Precious Christmas Gift to All Filipino Desaparecidos

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and other human rights groups in the Philippines in jubilation for Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s signing into law the Republic Act No. 10350, otherwise known as the Anti- Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012.

His Excellency’s signing of this new human rights law is a precious Christmas gift to all Filipino desaparecidos and their families. Not only does the law aim to address the phenomenon of enforced disappearance, which has persisted in the country even after Martial Law; it is also worthy of emulation by other Asian countries being the first domestic law against enforced disappearance in a region marred by disappearances reported to the UN in recent years and bereft of strong regional mechanisms for human rights protection.

Although the Republic Act 10350 is one concrete answer to the problem of enforced disappearance, it is not its absolute answer. It is not a one size fits all nor it is a quick fix solution. Other legal measures and institutional reforms must be made in order to complete the mantle of human rights protection for everyone. It is therefore, imperative for the Philippine government to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as a fulfillment of its voluntary pledges and commitment before the UN Human Rights Council. Further, the Philippines also needs to recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance as provided for by Arts. 31 and 32 of the Convention.

The Convention and the domestic law are complementary legal measures that can enhance the capacity of any state party to effectively perform its human rights obligations particularly the guarantee and protection of the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.

While we laud Pres. Aquino’s signing of this law as an expression of his government’s commitment to human rights, it is not the end-in-itself. The government must ensure its full implementation to make it an effective tool for accountability, thus contributing to end impunity.

The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the law’s effective implementation must be formulated and jointly promulgated by government representatives and families of the disappeared within 30 days upon the law’s effectivity. The IRR can make or break the law. The formulation of the IRR must be within the minimum international human rights standards and must fully capture the law’s very spirit and letter.

While the signing of the law is an executive act, it is a people’s act – an act especially of the families of the victims and human rights advocates –they indefatigably struggled and continue to struggle to make it happen. We also take this opportunity to thank the principal authors and sponsors of both Houses of the Philippine Congress, particularly Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay for championing the cause of the disappeared and their families. We also thank our friends in the media for helping us raise public awareness and elevate this issue from a parochial to a societal concern.

The Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law is a major leap in our struggle for truth, justice, redress, reparation, memory and guarantees of non-repetition. Every step brings our collective march closer to our goal of attaining a world free from enforced disappearance.

AFAD Statement
22 December 2012

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[Statement] The Campaign Against Enforced Disappearance: The Philippine Experience by Rep. Edcel Lagman

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The Campaign Against Enforced Disappearance: The Philippine Experience
(Keynote Speech of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman on the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30, 2012 at Bocobo Hall, UP Law Center)

After 35 years of searching and fighting for justice for a desaparecido son, Atty. Hermon C. Lagman, a human rights and labor lawyer, who disappeared during martial law, my mother Mrs. Cecilia Castelar Lagman, founding Chairperson of FIND and a member of the first Board of Directors of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Inc., on August 13, 2012, joined her creator and other relatives of the disappeared who have gone ahead of us.

It is, indeed, lamentable that after the long and relentless fight, relatives of the disappeared grow old and die without finding their missing kin and even as justice for the extremely odious act remains elusive.

While most families of the disappeared fail to locate their missing kin, in the words of former Senator Jovito Salonga “…in a profound sense, we have already found them and we are finding them whenever men and women continue the valiant struggle for truth, freedom, justice and national sovereignty. We find them wherever the youth of the land offer their talents, energies, and resources for a cause bigger than life itself.”

The campaign against enforced disappearance, therefore, interlocks with the peoples’ struggle for a liberating truth, empowering democracy, enduring peace built on justice, and respectable sovereignty.

These were the unshakable dreams and aspirations that our disappeared heroes and martyrs steadfastly sought to realize and for which they selflessly sacrificed their liberty and life.

The collective struggle for freedom and life with dignity and honor does not end with the forced disappearance of activist advocates. To paraphrase Senator Salonga: the disappeared are resurrected in the men and women who courageously sustain the struggle for the causes fought for by the martyrs of social and political transformation. As the struggle continues, history constantly reminds the inheritors of the past to uphold human dignity and protect all persons from human rights violations. The most cruel among these transgressions and one that violates practically all human rights is enforced disappearance.

A global tool of political repression, enforced disappearance is practiced by no less than 87 States, including the Philippines. We surmise that the campaign against enforced disappearance in the country had its stirrings in the first anguished cries of protest from the relatives, comrades and colleagues of the early desaparecidos.

Since these political activists belonged to politicized middle class families, it did not take long for nine of the grieving families to bond together and decide to collectively fight against enforced disappearance and for justice for their missing loved ones.

Thus, on November 23, 1985, the Crismo, Del Rosario, Lagman, Ontong, Pardalis, Reyes, Romero, Tayag and Yap families founded the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) with the invaluable assistance of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), notably its then Chairperson Sister Marianni Dimaranan.

Henceforth, FIND has taken the lead in the organized campaign against enforced disappearance. The guiding direction of the campaign is to transform the crusade against enforced disappearance from a familial mission into a bigger societal agenda by the human rights community with FIND at the helm.

Securing public support for the fight against enforced disappearance is imperative amidst the prevailing culture of impunity. The call to hold government authorities, more particulary the security forces, accountable for acts of enforced disappearance had for many years fallen on deaf ears. Persistent collective efforts of human rights advocates and defenders to engage concerned authorities in addressing enforced disappearance have in no small measure enlightened certain individuals in government on the urgency of instituting protection from enforced disappearance and of putting an end to impunity.

Consequently, after languishing in seven Congresses, the anti-enforced disappearance counterpart bills have been passed by both the House and the Senate. The House of Representatives last Tuesdayelected seven of its members, namely: Representatives Niel Tupas, Jr., Rene Relampagos, Lorenzo Tanada III, Karlo Alexei Nograles, Magtanggol Gunigundo, Carlos Padilla and this representation as conferees to the bicameral conference committee on House Bill No. 98 and Senate Bill No. 2817 or the anti-enforced or involuntary disappearance bills. The Senate has yet to elect its conferees.

House Bill No. 98 and Senate Bill No. 2817 have no significant disagreeing provisions, except some differences in style, absence in either version of counterpart provisions which are not overriding, and the lack of an appropriation language in the Senate bill. We expect a smooth-sailing bicameral conference soonest. I am confident that the President will sign the enrolled bill once it is transmitted to Malacanang.

It should be recalled that the anti-enforced disappearance bill has been in the House of Representatives since 1990 or 22 years. The first bill that sought to criminalize enforced disappearance was not supported by FIND and other human rights organizations because it imposed the death penalty on the perpetrators. In the 9th Congress, the late Rep. Bonifacio Gillego of Sorsogon introduced a new anti-disappearance bill that imposed reclusion perpetua as the gravest penalty.

When I returned to Congress in 2004, I immediately filed a revised version of the bill which was later consolidated with similar measures. This bill was approved by the House on third and final reading and promptly transmitted to the Senate which, unfortunately, failed to approve the counterpart measure. In the following 14th Congress, I reintroduced the bill which was also passed by the House but the Senate again was unable to approve its own version of the bill.

Among the common salient provisions of House Bill No. 98, which I principally authored, and Senate Bill No. 2817, the current bills in the 15th Congress, are:
1. Penalizing enforced disappearance as a separate criminal offense.
2. Adopting the United Nations definition of enforceddisappearance that principally makes liable agents of the State and excludes non-state actors as perpetrators;
3. Declaring the right against enforced disappearance as non-derogable or cannot be suspended under any circumstances including political instability, threat of war, state of war or other public emergencies;
4. An act constituting enforced or involuntary disappearance shall be considered a continuing offense as long as the fate or whereabouts of the victim is unknown;
5. Inapplicability of the Statute of Limitations for victims whose fate and whereabouts remain unclarified;
6. Maintenance of up-to-date registers of datainees and prisoners;
7. Expeditious disposition and enforcement of court orders and rulings;
8. Penal sanctions ranging from arresto mayor to reclusion perpetua;
9. Preventive suspension or summary dismissal, if warranted, of perpetrators;
10. Liability of offenders under other national criminal laws;
11. Inapplicability of double jeopardy under international law;
12. Criminal liability of commanding officers or superiors;
13. Right to disobey an order to commit enforced disappearance;
14. Exclusion of offenders from amnesty and similar measures;
15. Restitution of honor,monetary compensation to and rehabilitation ofvictims and next-of-kin.

A law criminalizing enforced disappearance is of overriding significance in bringing perpetrators to justice. No existing penal law captures all the constitutive elements of enforced disappearance which must be a distinct offense. However, in the absence of a law penalizing enforced disappearance, some families of the disappeared have filed kidnapping and serious illegal detention and/or murder against suspected perpetrators.

It is high time that we label as enforced or involuntary disappearance the act of depriving a person of his/her liberty by State authorities followed by a denial of the arrest, abduction or detention or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the victim. A law criminalizing enforced disappearance as an autonomous offense would facilitate the filing of appropriate criminal charges against the offenders and hopefully deter others from committing the same odious multiple violation of human rights.

Legal protection from a global menace must be guaranteed in both the national and international levels. Hence, the relentless campaign for the Philippines to enact a domestic law penalizing enforced disappearance and to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

FIND and AFAD actively participated in the final drafting of the Convention in the United Nations in Geneva and joined other associations of families of the disappeared in lobbying for the adoption of the Convention by the United Nations Human Rights Council and subsequently by the United Nations General Assembly. In fact, both FIND andAFAD delivered oral interventions to urge the UN Human Rights Council to adopt the Convention at the Council’s opening session in June 2006.

Moreover, the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), of which FIND and AFAD are members, with AFAD serving as the current focal organization, has been lobbying States across continents, more particularly in Asia, to sign and ratify the Convention and recognize the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearance that would monitor States Parties’ compliance with the provisions of the Convention.

I do not wish to preempt the presentation of the policy paper on the Convention by the Institute of Human Rights of the UP Law Center but I assure you that the proposed Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law and the Convention are complementary and mutually reinforcing. Their full implementation would undoubtedly strengthen legal protection from enforced disappearance even as it would promote human rights and civil liberties and uphold the rule of law. It would serve as an enduring tribute to the desaparecidos and their families who have kept the flame of courage incessantly burning in pursuing the vision of the disappeared of a society and a world free of exploitation and human rights violations.

On a personal note, I dedicate the soon-to-be-enacted Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law to my late human rights advocate mother, Mrs. Cecilia Castelar Lagman. This was also intimated to me by Rep. Lorenzo Tanada III, another author of the bill, during my mother’s wake.

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[Featured Video] A mother’s day gift (Mrs. Edita Burgos to missing son Jonas…) by REDANTSprod

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a mother’s day gift

Published in Youtube, May 12, 2012 by REDANTSprod
Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas, sends message to ‘son’.

File photo source pinoyweekly

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[In the news] UP students’ parents nix transfer of kidnap suspects – abs-cbnNEWS.com

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UP students’ parents nix transfer of kidnap suspects
abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – The mothers of missing University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan will oppose in court the transfer of 2 military officers from the Bulacan provincial jail to Fort Bonifacio.

The court had allowed the transfer of Lt. Col. Delipe Anotado and Staff Sgt. Edgardo Osorio due to security threats.

They are accused of kidnapping the 2 students in 2006.

The complainants’ lawyer, Ed Olalia, said they were not informed of the transfer.

“The funny thing is we just learned about this transfer through the media reports and the media reports say that the motion was heard last Friday
which was December 23 and the transfer was immediately effected on the very same day obviously in preparation for Christmas on Sunday,” he said.

Read full article @ www.abs-cbnnews.com

[In the news] Hunt on for Palparan – newsinfo.inquirer.net

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Hunt on for Palparan.
Notorious general goes into hiding
Philippine Daily Inquirer

The tables have been turned: The hunter is now the hunted.

Two days after Jovito Palparan Jr. was stopped at an airport in Pampanga province  from leaving the country, the government launched a manhunt for the retired major general tagged by activist groups as “Berdugo (Butcher)” for the string of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances attributed to him.

A task force has been formed solely to find, arrest and detain Palparan since his foiled attempt to leave for Singapore on Monday, President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, said Wednesday.

Formed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, the task force is made up of members of the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation, Lacierda said.

The mother of one of two University of the Philippines students abducted in 2006 said that Palparan was “a coward” and that “we will search you out.”

In a statement issued by his office, Lacierda called on Palparan to stop hiding and surrender to authorities: “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

He said the man “formerly so bold and brazen, and lavishly coddled by the former administration, is now a fugitive from justice.”

Read full article @ newsinfo.inquirer.net

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[In the news] EDITORIAL – Ending impunity | The Philippine Star News Opinion

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EDITORIAL – Ending impunity | The Philippine Star News Opinion.

Jovito Palparan has retired from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and no one has replaced him, in the eyes of activists and human rights advocates, as the face of the human rights violator. Yet the Aquino administration continues to be taken to task for the country’s human rights record.

The London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International cited 40 cases of extrajudicial killings since Benigno Aquino III assumed the presidency last year. The most notable case was that of botanist Leonard Co, who was killed, according to the military, when he was caught in the crossfire between government forces and the communist New People’s Army in Leyte.

A key concern of Amnesty International and other human rights advocates is the impunity that has arisen from the failure of the state to solve cases of human rights violations and bring the perpetrators to justice. That impunity had its worst manifestation in the massacre of 57 people, 32 of them media workers, in Maguindanao, in the country’s most atrocious case of political violence. The politicians accused of responsibility for the massacre clearly believed they could get away with the crime. While the mass murder was carried out two years ago under the previous administration, the case is dragging on in court, bolstering fears that litigation could take a hundred years.

Amnesty International lauded several initiatives undertaken by the Aquino administration to protect human rights, as it noted that most of the unsolved cases took place during the nine-year presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. AI counts 305 cases of extrajudicial killings and over 200 cases of enforced disappearances during the Arroyo administration that are still waiting to be solved.

Solution now lies at the hands of a new President, whose parents were human rights victims and icons of freedom. That legacy has created higher public expectations that Benigno Aquino III will end the culture of impunity that has guaranteed the continuation of human rights violations in this country.

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[In the news]‘The Butcher’ faces torture raps – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

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‘The Butcher’ faces torture raps – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

By Nikko Dizon, Tonette Orejas, Robert Gonzaga
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Jovito Palparan. File Photo Source: ellentordesillas.com

MANILA, Philippines—Retired general Jovito Palparan Jr.—the man activists call “The Butcher”—and several other soldiers were Wednesday slapped with criminal charges, including torture and rape, by the mothers of two University of the Philippines students who were abducted in Bulacan province in 2006.

The complaint filed at the Department of Justice by the mothers of Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan named, aside from Palparan, Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, 2nd Lt. Francis Mirabelle, military volunteer (CAFGU) Arnel Enriquez, M/Sgt. Donald Caigas, M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario, and several other John Does.

The offenses alleged in the complaint include serious physical injuries, arbitrary detention, maltreatment of prisoners, grave threats and coercion, rape and other criminal law violations.

Read full article @ INQUIRER.net (link above)

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[In the news] Mothers of the missing: Search for children, justice won’t stop – Interaksyon.com

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Mothers of the missing: Search for children, justice won’t stop – Interaksyon.com.

MANILA, Philippines – Saying no other mother should bear the burden of searching for a son or daughter and not be given answers, the mothers of three of the most famous victims of involuntary disappearance in the country led simple but touching rites on Thursday marking the fourth anniversary of the abduction of the still-missing activist-farmer Jonas Burgos.

Edita T. Burgos, who demanded in a brief but compelling letter to Army Major Harry Baliaga on Wednesday that he name the one who ordered her son seized, said she and the other mothers of the disappeared will not stop until they find their children — and justice.

Seated beside her at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial grounds in Quezon City were Connie Empeno and Erlinda Cadapan, whose daughters Karen and Sherlyn, respectively, were seized one year before Jonas Burgos was abducted by six persons, believed to be military agents, as he lunched in a Quezon City mall on April 28, 2007.

The three mothers also announced plans to step up the lobbying for the passage of a bill, authored by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, defining and penalizing the crime of enforced or involuntary disappearance; and for the Philippine government to sign the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons Against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance.

Read full article @ Interaksyon.com (Link above)

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[From the web] 4th Year of Jonas’ Abduction -freejonasburgosmovement.blogspot.com

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Please join us in a gathering tomorrow, 28 April, 3 pm at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Grounds as we mark the 4th year of the Jonas Burgos’ abduction. Allow us to thank you for your continued support and help us remind the government that we shall continue the search until my Jonas and other disappeared are returned to us.

EDITA BURGOS

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