On
August 30 this year, we will be commemorating the International Day
of the Disappeared to draw attention to the fate of individuals abducted
or imprisoned at places unknown to their relatives and/or legal representatives.
The observance of the date was started by the Federation of Association
of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana
de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM)
based in Costa Rica in 1982. The tradition has been adopted by many
human rights advocates worldwide.
"Enforced disappearance" is defined in Article 2 of the United
Nations’ International Covention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance as:
the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of
liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting
with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed
by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment
of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such
a person outside the protection of the law.
Article 1 of the Convention further states that:
"No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war
or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public
emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance."
According to human rights group Desaparecidos, the number of those abducted
and disappeared under the Arroyo administration has reached almost 200.
This includes the cases of rural activist Jonas Burgos, University of
the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, former political
prisoner Luisa Dominado and Bayan-Panay chair Nilo Arado.
The systematic and widespread attack against any civilian population
is further defined as a “crime against humanity” by the
Rome Statue of International Criminal Court and Article 6 of the UN
Convention.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s continuing inaction despite condemnation
from several international human rights groups raises doubts and concerns
about her political will to stop the mounting extrajudicial killings
and enforced disappearances in the Philippines.
In the guise of fighting insurgency and “terrorism”, the
government enacted the Human Security Act on March 2007. Many people
fear that this repressive piece of law will further legalize the mechanisms
of the government’s dirty war against its oppositions.
On August 30, once again, let us make the voices of the disappeared
heard and press the government to take the necessary actions to surface
the missing. We shall also ask the Congress to enact laws that penalize
involuntary or enforced disappearances, including the ratification of
the International Covention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance.
We shall gather to remember and demand justice for all the victims.
Let us unite in the struggle to end enforced disappearances and all
forms of political persecution and repression.
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