International
Day of the Disappeared
Muhammad
Amirul Haq Tuhin
30
August is commemorated as International Day of Disappeared. 'Disappeareds'
are people who have been taken into custody by agents of the state,
yet whose whereabouts and fate are concealed and whose custody is denied.
The Latin American non-governmental organisation FEDEFAM, Federation
Latin-Americana de Asociasiones de Familieres de Detenidos-Disaparecidos,
started the custom of commemorating the Day and it is now marked all
around the world. FEDEFAM was formed by associations of relatives of
the disappeared in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which
have or are currently practising forced disappearance.
A
forced disappearance consists of a kidnapping, carried out by agents
of the state or organised groups of private individuals who act with
state support or tolerance in which the victim disappears. Authorities
neither accept responsibility for the deed, nor account for the whereabouts
of the victim. Forced disappearance was first used as a form of political
repression in Latin America during the 1960s. During World War II, the
Nazis practised a similar form of repression, which, however, recognised
the detention of the victim. The first Latin American countries to practice
forced disappearance were Haiti and Guatemala. It is estimated that
between 1966 to 1986 some 90,000 people disappeared in countries including
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil,
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Haiti. This figure includes young children
and babies born during their mothers' detention. Forced disappearance
with refined technique was applied in other parts of the world, including
Africa and Asia later.
According
to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Forced Disappearance,
proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/133 of 18 December
1992, a forced disappearance occurs when "persons are arrested,
detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived at their
liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government,
or by organised 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". A disappearance is a doubly paralysing form of suffering:
for the victims, frequently tortured and in constant fear for their
lives, and for their family members, ignorant of the fate of their loved
ones, their emotions alternating between hope and despairs, wondering
and waiting, sometimes for years, for news that may never come. The
practice of forced disappearance of persons infringes upon an entire
range of human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and set out in both international Covenants on Human Rights as
well as in other major international human rights instruments. A forced
disappearance violates a series of fundamental and human rights including
the right to liberty and security, the right to be recognised everywhere
as a person before the law, the right to legal defence and the right
not to be subjected to torture. In addition, forced disappearance constitutes
a grave threat to the right to life.
Although
disappearances are associated, in the public perception, with the authoritarian
military governments of previous decades, sadly they are not exclusive
of them and continue to occur to this day. The United Nations Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances observes that now a
days forced disappearances occur in the context of much more complex
situations of internal conflict generating violence, humanitarian crisis,
and human rights violations. This Working Group was established by the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist the relatives
of disappeared persons in ascertaining their fate and whereabouts and
to act as a channel for communication between the families and governments
concerned. The Working Group received reports from reputable non-governmental
organisations of rising number of disappearances occurring in countries
like Nepal, Colombia and the Russian Federation. While in 2003, the
Working Group transmitted 18 cases of alleged enforced disappearances
to the government of Nepal; in the first half of 2004 this number had
risen to 130. New cases are reported from the Russian Federation, where
the working group is aware of more than 270 cases in which the fate
and whereabouts of the victims are still unknown. The fate of more than
890 disappeared people is still to be clarified in Colombia.
On
the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared the United
Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances expressed
concern over the occurrences of disappearance reaffirming it as a crime
with severe consequences not only for victims and for relatives and
friends of the victim, but also for entire societies and for the credibility
of States. It called upon all governments to take appropriate actions
to bring an end to the practice of secret detentions.
Our
Subcontinent is also familiar with the offence of disappearance. In
India an alarming number of forced disappearances by state agencies
have occurred. Especially we have to mention the name of the states
of Kashmir, Asam and others where movement for independence prevails.
Bangladesh is not totally inexperienced of forced disappearance. There
are number of reported and unreported cases of mass scale disappearance
in the region of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The disappearance of Kalpana
Chakma, the leader of the Hill Women's Federation is a shameful example
of such offence. So the International Day of the Disappeared has also
its significance in Bangladesh.
Muhammad
Amirul Haq Tuhin working with Ain Shalish Kendro.
