Theme:

Enhancing Capacities For Our Advocacy Towards A World Without Desaparecidos

29 March to 3 April 2014
Holiday Inn, Bangkok, Thailand

 

Rationale

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) has been in existence since 1998. It had conducted its Fifth Congress held in Manila in September 2014, a major agenda of which was AFAD’s summing up of its more than 16 years of existence as the only Federation in the region working directly on the issue of enforced disappearances.

The work of AFAD continues to be as relevant as ever. The phenomenon of enforced disappearances is a present reality in this vast Asian continent. As compared to most countries of Latin America, where cases of disappearances occurred in the past, disappearances in many Asian countries continue to occur unabated with each passing day. Therefore the campaigns, strategies and achievements are classically different from those of other regions. There are many countries in Asia, where an active conflict is ongoing, like Pakistan, Kashmir-India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Thailand (South), Philippines, Bangladesh. Countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste are in the conflict transition phase. AFAD continues to respond to the said phenomenon in the Asian region.

In the summing up of AFAD’s work, a number of milestones were identified on one hand, while on the other hand, important challenges were also mentioned. One of the important political milestones identified is AFAD’s consistent and active participation in the drafting and negotiation process of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. It was the fastest international human rights treaty ever adopted in the history of the United Nations. AFAD, which was represented during the whole process, could claim that it contributed, in no small measure, to this historic victory. The presence of organizations working on the issue of enforced disappearances in regions other than Latin America debunked the myth that enforced disappearance is a problem of the past and is solely a Latin American phenomenon.

While AFAD contributed to the adoption of the Convention and continued to lobby for signatures and ratifications of Asian states to this important treaty, Asia remains the continent with the highest number of cases reported to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) and with the lowest number of signatures and ratifications to the said treaty. AFAD has spent significant resources for its campaign beyond the adoption of the Convention by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006. To date, in Southeast Asia, only Cambodia ratified the Convention, while Indonesia, Thailand signed it. The signatures of both Indonesia and Thailand could be attributed, among other factors, to the efforts of AFAD member-organizations and AFAD as a Federation, in cooperation with its Latin American counterparts.

In breaking impunity, Asian countries have still to achieve concrete victories in the prosecution of perpetrators and reparation and other forms of justice for the victims.

Moreover, the Philippines is the only country in the whole of Asia that has a domestic law against enforced disappearances, an achievement which could also be attributed to the efforts principally made by of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and its champion/s in the House of Representatives and with the active support of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and other Philippine-based organizations such as the members of the local Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (CAED), the Free Jonas Burgos Movement, Karapatan and Desaparecidos.

In view of the huge number of cases submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) from the Asian region and the persecution of human rights defenders working on enforced disappearances, an intensive and extensive campaign for ratification of the Convention by Asian States and their recognition of the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is imperative. Such campaign has to be done corollary with the campaign for the drafting of domestic laws criminalizing enforced disappearances in order to ensure full implementation of the provisions of the treaty at the country level.

Using other UN instruments and mechanisms to advance the work of AFAD, to complement the other work it is already doing, is equally important. AFAD, being the current focal point of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), can make use of its international network to strengthen its voice in Asia. Its cooperation with regional formations working on the issue of ED is also very important if it is to ensure a louder voice in the region.

The Asian region does not have strong human rights mechanisms for protection. Hence, the UN is the only body to which organizations working on the issue of enforced disappearances in Asia can approach and submit complaints. The ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which is applicable only for Southeast Asian states, deals more with promotion rather than protection of human rights and does not accept individual cases. It is also tied with its principle of non-intervention. While the UN does not legally sanction governments for their commission of human rights violations, international embarrassment is a very effective form of sanction for governments so concerned with their international image, yet violate human rights.

Almost a decade after the entry into force of the Convention, much remains to be done in the Asian region where enforced disappearances are rampant, where human rights defenders working on the issue of enforced disappearances are persecuted, where there is no law criminalizing enforced disappearances and few signatories and states parties to the Convention. Cases of enforced disappearances continue unresolved and are occurring unabated with each passing day, especially in South Asian countries. Impunity is the order of the day.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) takes on the challenge of making a difference in the campaign against enforced disappearances in the Asian region.

Taking into consideration that most of the victims of enforced disappearances are men and left behind are the surviving women, AFAD believes that its advocacy is inter-related with gender issues.

Projects with Bread for the World, OAK Foundation, Misereor and OSI

In the last several years, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is being supported by both the Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (now Bread for the World/Protestant Development Service) and the OAK Foundation for its campaign for truth, justice, reparation, redress and the reconstruction of the historical memory of the disappeared. In the Philippines, which is the AFAD’s country of base, the Misereor is supporting AFAD’s campaign and documentation work. AFAD also receives a short term support from OSI for the campaign on solidarity with Laos, particularly the disappearance of Lao development worker, Sombath Somphone, who disappeared on 15 December 2012.

AFAD has been facing and continues to experience difficulties in attaining its expected outcomes of changing policies in favor of creating an atmosphere where the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances is respected. This is so because AFAD is

dealing with governments, whose decisions in favor of policies that create a political environment conducive to a world without enforced disappearances, are beyond its control. Despite this, it is important to note that AFAD’s partners remain convinced of the importance of the work to attain the AFAD’s vision of a world without disappeared persons.

For which reason, a project on campaign and lobbying for the ratification of the Convention and the codification of the offense in domestic laws, complemented with the recognition of the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances; coming up with concrete breakthroughs in the campaign for justice through filing of emblematic cases in courts is being supported by Bread for the World for the period 2015 to 2018. The OAK Foundation is also supporting AFAD in 2015 in its campaign against enforced disappearances.

An integral part of this project is internal strengthening of the Federation, whose constituents include, among others, the key project implementers, e.g. the Secretariat and the recently appointed campaign staff. Hence, at the first quarter of the first year of the implementation of the four-year project with Bread for the World/Protestant Development Service, of the one year project with OAK Foundation, of the last year of implementation of the three-year project with Misereor for the Philippines and the short-term solidarity for Laos project, AFAD’s campaign country staff and Secretariat members are given this opportunity for an orientation on AFAD and its compaign projects, capacity building on effective advocacy of which gender sensitivity is an essential part.