Asia is littered with countries where policies of abducting and “disappearing” people have had terrible consequences. Among them are Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. In none of these countries have the families of victims obtained redress; nor has the truth of their disappearances been told. The effects on the political and social life of the society and the state itself are tremendous and lasting. The damage to public and private perceptions about the value of life, security and the nature of one’s country itself is immeasurable–far beyond what those who design and orchestrate such disappearances themselves ever imagine.
Disappearances create families who for the rest of their lives find it impossible to trust the state. It becomes an indelible mark on their consciousness. Even one or two decades after the forced disappearance of at least 30,000 persons in Sri Lanka, mothers have described the perpetrators as “worse than animals”. When large numbers of people share such feelings it is extremely difficult for the state to rebuild its credibility without very deliberate efforts and will. Not only they but generations after them will be psychologically damaged.
A further consequence lies within the state itself. Those of its personnel responsible for abducting and killing people will for the rest of their lives become intellectually disabled. They are unable to perform any tasks of normal law enforcement with a sense of conviction. These persons fester like a cancer in the heart of their institutions: beyond cure or removal. Having laid traps, destroyed evidence, worked with criminals, kept secrets and otherwise developed their physical and psychological skills to deny the rule of law rather than to uphold it they must now remain to deny all possibility of genuine change. While telling lies to the mothers and wives of victims, they must act like normal husbands and fathers before their own families. Over a long period of time their personal relationships may suffer and be destroyed, particularly if their role in gross abuses is eventually revealed to unknowing relatives.
A programme of disappearances cannot be confined to a particular locality, no matter the intention of its planners. Once abductions begin, the state as a whole must deny them. Agencies that ordinarily conduct investigations must be stopped. Internal distrust and confusion increases and causes permanent damage to the functioning of government, as has been the case in Thailand since the rapid incidence of forced disappearances in the south from 2004.
The cumulative result of disappearances is a deep cynicism in society. The value of life and truth, prospects of government adhering to standards of transparency and accountability, and sense of basic human decency are all gravely undermined. To counteract this requires a concerted and deliberate effort.
However, so far no serious attempts have been made to address forced disappearances in Asia. In Sri Lanka and Indonesia the scars left by a history of disappearances have not been healed. A series of commissions documented the tens of thousands lost from 1989 to the early 1990s in Sri Lanka, but no perpetrator has ever been prosecuted. The families obtained some paltry compensation. In Indonesia the state has not gone any way towards resolving questions over disappearances or addressing the demands of families. Neither of these countries has done anything to prevent the prospect of future mass disappearances if conditions again deteriorate to the point that the authorities find such a policy expedient.
In Thailand and Pakistan, disappearances are ongoing. Opponents of the Pakistani government, journalists, writers, lawyers and others have been vanishing at an alarming rate: some 600 are reported to have fallen victim to the practice in 2006 alone. In the last five years 4000 persons are estimated to have been disappeared after arrest. Some bodies that have been recovered later show signs of severe torture. Still the country’s military government is continuing to deny any knowledge of these incidents. In Thailand, a handful of families in the south have been paid some compensation by the government, but there have been no prosecutions and service personnel there have been indemnified under a law that is a blatant violation of the country’s international obligations. Meanwhile, disappearances are known to be going on all over the country and yet a proposal by the forensic science institute for a missing persons investigation centre has been subjected to constant obstructions by the police and other parts of government. The lack of sincerity with which the Thai government has approached the problem of disappearances has been typified in the case of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit: two-and-a-half years since his disappearance and despite huge pressure and recognition by the entire country–including the prime minister–that the police abducted and killed Somchai, the authorities are no closer to revealing what happened to him and obtaining justice for his family than they ever were. Even a recent attempted abduction of one of the country’s National Human Rights Commissioners was met with shameful silence by the national administration.
Like in the south of Thailand, the northeast of India is a heavily militarised area where disappearances are reported to be going on constantly. Protest in Manipur, Assam and Nagaland against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is muzzled by undocumented arrest, torture and killing. Those who survive are kept in detention under another severe law, the Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act. Complaints against the armed forces are not taken up by civilian courts. Even the Supreme Court of India has failed to address the ongoing disappearances by turning down challenges to the legality of the laws used in the region.
Nepal has been among the lead countries in the world for forced disappearances during recent years, but political change has brought new hope and heavy expectations. By the reckoning of the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal in its first five-year report, some 1700 had been disappeared throughout the period of conflict between the armed forces and Maoists up to April 2006, when the absolute king was toppled by a popular uprising. During the conflict, and particularly since 2001 when the army was unleashed under new emergency regulations, the security forces used arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other gross abuses together with disappearances under guarantees of complete impunity. Since April the incidence of reported abductions has dropped considerably; however, around a thousand cases remain unresolved.
This August 30, the 2006 International Day of the Disappeared, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls for strong leadership to end impunity for forced disappearances in Asia. It calls for strong leadership both among the families of victims and their supporters, and also from concerned governments.
The families of victims of disappearances in Asia are finding a greater determination to speak and act in response to what has happened to their relatives, their families and their societies. In this they deserve the strongest support from other parts society. In Sri Lanka some families have erected a memorial for their lost sons, brothers and husbands, around which people from the country and abroad assemble every October and renew their demands. In Thailand mothers that just one year ago were unwilling to speak are now following the example of Angkhana Neelaphaijit, wife of the abducted lawyer, who is leading them in insisting that the government must recognise its wrongs and afford proper redress through the courts. Families of victims in Nepal recently protested in the capital, demanding answers and legal redress. They too have formed vocal groups, insisting that the authorities must either give them information on the whereabouts of their loved ones or issue death certificates. In the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, India and elsewhere relatives and their supporters are likewise organising and calling for justice. Their calls should be given all possible encouragement and acknowledgement, especially by legal and medical professionals, journalists and writers. They can also obtain lessons from the experiences of families in other parts of the world, especially the leadership shown by the mothers of victims in Argentina who led the vigil for justice there, which has now culminated in the first arrests and convictions of perpetrators in the police and military.
In no country in Asia where large-scale forced disappearances have occurred are there any laws or institutions capable of ensuring justice. This situation must now change. In September the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is due before the UN General Assembly for final approval. After that it will be open for every country in the world to join and subscribe to its core principle: that no one shall be subject to forced disappearance under any circumstances. The AHRC urges all governments in Asia to join this treaty and bring it into domestic law. It calls for widespread public distribution of information about the treaty. In this, national human rights institutions and professional groups must take the lead. The AHRC also seeks strong leadership by countries in other parts of the world, notably Argentina, that are taking steps to address disappearances in their territories.
Among the governments of Asia, the Asian Human Rights Commission is also today making a special call to the government of Japan. We acknowledge and appreciate its backing of the new disappearances convention. But without other governments in Asia also committing themselves to its provisions and carrying through the necessary changes at home the treaty will be meaningless. Therefore, we urge the government of Japan to continue with the leadership that it has shown by sponsoring this international law. It must now work through diplomatic channels to have other countries in Asia join with it to end forced disappearances. This will be the true demonstration of Japan’s commitment to the new convention. The government of Japan has the means to press for an end to forced disappearances in Asia. The AHRC hopes that it will also show the moral strength necessary to play a leading role at the intergovernmental level and turn the treaty’s principles into reality, for the benefit of thousands of victims and their families, and millions of others indirectly affected by the blight of forced disappearances throughout Asia.
