| 27 June 2006
United Nations, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Mr. President, Madame High Commissioner, Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
Two decades and seven months ago, nine families of disappeared persons
in the Philippines bonded together and decisively resolved to transform
their individual grief, pain and anguish into courage. They gave
birth to FIND (Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance)
a nationwide human rights non-government organization that has steadfastly
fought for justice for the disappeared and their families under
five regimes.
Eventually, in solidarity with other family associations, it joined
the global campaign for the adoption of a legally binding normative
instrument for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance.
Consistent with the call of both the Declaration and the draft Convention
on Enforced Disappearance for the enactment of domestic laws criminalizing
enforced disappearance, FIND initiated the filing of an anti-disappearance
bill.
Last month, on the International Week of the Disappeared, the House
of Representatives of the Philippine Congress through the sponsorship
of FIND’s Honorary Chairperson, approved on third and final reading
House Bill No. 4959 that seeks to distinctly define and penalize
enforced disappearance. The proposed law echoes and even improved
on many provisions of the draft international convention on disappearance.
These include among others the:
1) Definition of enforced disappearance and victim;
2) Prohibition of enforced disappearance under all circumstances
and public emergencies;
3) Continuing character of enforced disappearance and limited application
of the statute of limitations;
4) Accountability of commanding officers or superiors of perpetrators;
5) Access to information about a person deprived of liberty by all
persons with legitimate interest in the information;
6) State protection of all persons involved in the search, investigation
and prosecution of the offense; and
7) Imposing penal sanctions ranging from arresto mayor to reclusion
perpetua, not death.
The adoption by the Council of the draft Convention can hasten the
enactment of the Philippine anti-disappearance law for which FIND
has lobbied for the last eleven years.
The Philippine anti-disappearance bill and the draft Convention
are complementary and mutually reinforcing. However, the salient
provisions of the bill including the giant leap the Philippine Congress
made in repealing the death penalty law are obliterated by the series
of disappearances and extrajudicial killings mercilessly perpetrated
by alleged State agents. In the first two quarters of this year
alone, 25 victims of enforced disappearance have been reported and
documented by FIND. These bring the total number of reported victims
of disappearance under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration
to 130.
Mr. President, the desaparecidos suffered unimaginable indignities
and unspeakable atrocities in the hands of their captors. We, their
families have long excruciated between hope and despair in our endless
search. Today, there is no place for despair in our hearts for they
are full of hope. Hope for justice that has been elusive. Hope for
impunity to come to an end. Hope for human dignity to be upheld.
Mr. President, it is not only the temporal eyes of the world that
are now riveted on this august Council, but the spiritual eyes of
thousands upon thousands of desaparecidos all over the world, including
my very own brother, a labor and human rights lawyer when my country
was under martial law. They are here with us today to bear witness
to the adoption by this Council of a historic and enduring legacy
– the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance.
Delivered by:
Nilda L. Sevilla
Co-Chairperson
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