On Wednesday morning December 20th the 61st
General Assembly of the United Nations, meeting in New York,
gave its unanimous approval to the text of the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced
Disappearances.
It is an event for which the families of the disappeared
in Latin America have been trying to achieve for 25 years.
When the 1st Latin American Congress of Families of the
Disappeared took place in January 1981 at San Jose, Costa
Rica, it was the conviction among all participants, based
on personal experience, that we were facing a new form of
human rights violations for which, neither the international
community nor the traditional judicial structure of each
State, were prepared. The perversity of that new phenomenon
resided in the refusal by the authorities to recognize detentions
carried out by security forces and which resulted in the
impossibility to ascertain information on their whereabouts
or fate. And in an unstoppable wave the practice of enforced
disappearances had extended to all corners of Latin America,
not only to dictatorial States but also to formally democratic
ones such as Mexico and Colombia.
It was moving at the San Jose encounter, meeting under
the motto "No Pain is fruitless", to see the attitude
of the families. Coming from very different ways of life,
countries, social sectors and peoples, all embraced a common
sentiment going beyond the solution to each individual case.
They committed themselves to eliminating the practice of
enforced disappearances "from the face of the earth".
Accordingly they took the first decisions of importance
that had their first fruit in 1983, when FEDEFAM, thanks
to the work of jurists Eduardo Novoa Monreal (Chile) and
Alfredo Galletti (Argentina), presented its first draft
for the Convention. However a long and tortuous road lay
ahead until the approval in 1992 by the UN of the Declaration
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
Finally the Human Rights Commission in 2001 under the Chair
of Leandro Despouy (Argentina) got the final stage under
way which ended now with the approval of the text by the
General Assembly.
We wish to underline in all this process the contribution
of the families from other regions of the world, especially
of AFAD (Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances).
The voice of these relatives was a resounding response to
those arguing that enforced disappearances only affect countries
in Latin America.
On September 23rd 2005, Ambassador Kessedjian (France)
who had been chairing the draft working group during three
years, asked for the approval of the Convention. In a short
speech he said that negotiations had ended, and that a decision
had to be made. He requested its approval by consensus as
afterwards each State can make their reservations or commentaries.
There was silence in the meeting room. No one objected and
the text of the new Convention was approved.
The road afterwards was much easier both in the Human
Rights Council (June 2006) as well as in the Third Committee
of the General Assembly (November 2006). It was now approved
by consensus on the floor of the General Assembly itself.
The text approved notably enriches the initial project
drafted by FEDEFAM. In it we find enshrined many rights
which up to now never had been so clearly defined on an
international level:
- The right not to be subjected to an enforced disappearance
with all the obligations - and consequences for States.
- The right to truth, that is the right to know the truth
about the fate of the person disappeared and all the circumstances
about this crime.
- The right of the relatives to recover the remains of their
loved ones.
- The establishment of guarantees towards the prohibition
of all clandestine detentions no matter who the victim is
nor in what circumstances was he/she taken.
- The right to justice of the families of the disappeared.
This right has to be guaranteed through the inclusion in
national penal law of the crime of forced disappearances.
- The practice of enforced disappearances constitute a crime
against humanity.
A broad concept of victim is included that extends both
to the relatives and close associates of the direct victim.
Multiple aspects of the right to reparation are affirmed.
- The right of the child (enfant) victim to recover their
identity is underlined.
An independent monitoring body will be established called
the Committee on Enforced Disappearances with the authority
and power of decision to investigate all urgent cases as
one of its most noted characteristics.
A Call to Action
FEDEFAM wishes to emphasize that we are really enthusiastic
about this new international instrument. We believe in it
and we are convinced of its efficiency to achieve full protection
against forced disappearances. FEDEFAM is committed to achieving
that.
We call on all States to sign and ratify this Convention
so that it can become operative as soon as possible (after
the twentieth ratification). We are confident that it will
have the support of many States in Africa, Asia and Europe
as well as in Latin America as this Convention will be for
them the first international instrument that establishes
such obligations in their regions. 104 States have co-sponsored
the Convention in the General Assembly, and we believe that
each one will be able to sign and ratify it very soon. We
will be looking for a hundred ratifications so that it will
carry a decisive weight in international human rights affairs.
We exhort all States, NGOS and the media to promote and
make the new Convention as well known as possible. We will
be insisting that the Committee on Enforced Disappearances
once established (we expect in 2008), will have at its disposal
the necessary human and financial resources needed to carry
out its task.
The 61st General Assembly of the UN took a historic decision
by approving this international Convention. A world without
enforced disappearances is now possible! A new step has
been taken so that "NEVER AGAIN" can become reality.
Let us go forward to achieve that goal!
Until we find them!
FEDEFAM Gratitude
We are aware that by including this list we will leave
out many people. We subsequently ask for their comprehension.
But as this achievement was the result of the dedication
of so many people which we would like to name as many as
possible in gratitude.
Ambassador Bernard Kessedjian and team headed by Catherine
Calothy (France).
Louis Joinet (France)
Manfred Novak (Austria)
Rodolfo Mattarrollo (Argentina)
Federico Andreu (Colombia), his antecessor Alejandro Artucio
(Uruguay), and colleagues from the International Commission
of Jurists.
Wilder Tyler (Uruguay() of Human Rights Watch
Adrien Zoeller (Switzerland)
Theo Van Boven (Holland)
Leandro Despouy (Argentina)
Horacio Ravenna (APDH Argentina)
Morris Tidball (Argentina)
Miguel Alfonso Martinez (Cuba)
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Ewoud Plate y Dave Hardy - Linking Solidarity (HOM) Holland.
Gabriela Citroni (Italia)
Aileen Bacalso (Philippines – AFAD).
Internacional Federaciуn of Human Rights(FIDH)
Oliver Laurent (FIDH) y el Yahoo E Grupo "Disparition")
Amnesty International
Federaciуn Internacional de la Acciуn Cristiana contra la
Tortura (FIACAT)
Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)
International Service for Human Rights among others.
Associations of Relatives:
AFAD (Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances)
and member associations.
RADIF (African Network against Involuntary Disappearances)
and member associations.
"We Remember" Foundation (Belarus)
Federation of Associations of Relatives of ex Yugoslavia
(Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina y Serbia).
States
We are in debt to France, the majority of members of GRULAC
(Latin American and Caribbean Group) and all the States
who have sponsored the Convention.
We especially highlight the commitment of governments of
Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay who believed in this
project even in the most difficult times.
|