By Mary Aileen D. Bacalso
Focal Person, International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances
(ICAED)

Side Event: Respect The Right Not to be Disappeared:
Universal Accession and Implementation of the Convention Against Disappearances
Geneva, Switzerland

His Excellency the French Ambassador to Geneva, Mr. Nicolas Niemtchinow, Chairperson, Chair of the UN Committee Against Enforced Disappearances, Mr. Emmanuel Decaux, Chair of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances , Mr. Olivier de Frouville, panellist Hugo Relva, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

Thirty years ago, associations of families of the disappeared from various parts of Latin America, who suffered from the devastating effects of enforced disappearances, formed the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) in San Jose, Costa Rica, Hand in hand with the building of a continental response to the massive phenomenon of enforced disappearances in many parts of Latin America was the dream project for an international treaty protecting people from enforced disappearances.

The dream of 31 years ago is now a reality through what is now the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance - adopted by the former UN Commission on Human Rights in September 2005 in this Room Xll of Palais des Nations, further adopted by the now UN Human Rights Council in September 2006 and by the UN General Assembly in December 2006 and entered into force on 20 December 2010.

The Convention has been ratified by 36 States and signed by 91, yet only 12 have recognized the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. While we have made a dent in the fight against enforced disappearances, our theme of this forum, "Respect the Right Not to Disappear through Universal Accession and Implementation of the Convention" is still far from being realized. The ratification pace during these last six years since the adoption is, to say the least, a bit slow vis-à-vis the continuing increase in the number of new cases in different parts of the world.

Why the need for universal implementation? What is the value of the Convention to the families of the disappeared?

Not just a product of legal minds of representatives of UN Member-States, the Convention’s very provisions stem from the sufferings of the disappeared and their surviving families. The very concept itself was dreamed of by this heinous crime’s very victims in Latin America. During its 3-year drafting and negotiations in Geneva, the voice and true-to-life experience of families of victims from Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa were the drafters’ source of wisdom and inspiration, taking into consideration the distinct and common phenomena of enforced disappearances in various countries.

With the still unresolved cases of enforced disappearances in more than 90 countries of the world and the daily recurrence of cases in many parts of the world, the Convention is indeed, a powerful tool to address existing gaps vis-à-vis existing mechanisms, which have their own respective limitations.

The new right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance provides a strong statement that all persons must be protected from enforced disappearance in all circumstances. There is no justification whatsoever for the commission of enforced disappearance. The obligations for States Parties to codify the offense at the national level assure that all States Parties to the Convention must criminalize enforced disappearance as a distinct offence with penalties that correspond to the extreme seriousness of the crime. The Convention further states the continuing character of the crime, taking into consideration the continuing deprivation of the life and liberty of the direct victims and the continuing suffering of the families and relatives of the victims.

The Convention has provisions on the right to truth, justice, reparation, redress and the reconstruction of the historical memory of the disappeared. `These are the very core provisions of the Convention which strongly aim to combat impunity and to ensure non-repetition. It has strong provisions on children subjected to enforced disappearance; to children born in captivity, to children whose parents had disappeared, among others.

In the Asian continent, for example, where there are no strong mechanisms of protection from enforced disappearance and where cases continue without let up, this Convention is a source of hope for families of the disappeared.

Further, the treaty provides of the establishment of what is now the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances to ensure implementation.

What we have achieved now is a victory of truth against lies; of justice against impunity, of life against death. While there is every reason to celebrate what has been achieved, yet with the 42,759 active and unclarified cases and 10,571 unidentified cases as per 2011 report of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, much remains to be done.

In response to the need for the realization of our theme, Respect the Right NOT to be Disappeared: Universal Accession and Implementation of the Convention Against Disappearances, the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances was established in 2007 after the treaty was opened for signatures in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, France. Now composed of 47 organizations from various parts of the world, it is conducting campaigning and lobbying efforts – writing letters to governments; knocking at foreign embassies in our respective capitals, conducting public activities in various universities to disseminate the information about the Convention; using traditionally-commemorated activities on enforced disappearances to call on governments to sign and ratify the Convention and recognize the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, coming here to Geneva during the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and other significant occasions to remind governments of their international obligations. These activities are conducted amidst situation of repression in many of our countries; with governments not so open to the Convention in view of the rampant cases of enforced disappearances committed by their security forces; amidst various other tasks to end enforced disappearances and other forms of human rights violations, not to mention serious constraints in resources.

On this occasion of the on-going session of the UN WGEID coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and also coinciding with the third session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, amidst difficulties, we renew our commitment to realize a world without disappeared persons through our campaign for universal accession and implementation of the Convention and states’ recognition of the competence of the UN CED. In so doing, we would need the support of other civil society organizations, the UN CED and the UN WGEID and the Group of Friends of the Convention in carrying out these tasks.

The road ahead is long and arduous, but we will be guided by the cry of all disappeared people and the never-ending pain of their families. We also take courage from Mr. Bernard Kessedjian who, in this very Room Xll of Palais des Nations, 6 years ago, banged his gavel and announced the finalization of the present text of the Convention. Lest we forget, we also take inspiration from the commitment of our former focal person, the late Patricio Rice, who, 2 years ago, came from Switzerland to work hard on the Convention and who, in the course of his work, died on his way back from Switzerland, France and Ireland to his beloved Argentina.

As it is now, this Convention is a partial victory for the disappeared and their families. We look forward to cherish full victory through the treaty’s universal accession and implementation – a concretization of the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance.

Thank you very much.