Rights groups focus on forced 'disappearance'<\/p>\n
Grant Peck, Associated Press, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Asian human rights activists on Tuesday called for making
\nkidnappings and killings by government agencies a specific crime,
\ndistinct from kidnapping and murder covered by criminal laws.<\/p>\n
The call came at a meeting of the Asian Federation Against
\nInvoluntary Disappearances, or AFAD, to review progress since
\ntheir group was established in May 2000.<\/p>\n
Member organizations come from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri
\nLanka, Thailand and the Indian-controlled Kashmir.<\/p>\n
\"Priority number one is enactment of laws criminalizing
\ninvoluntary disappearance as a separate offense,\" Philippine
\nlabor lawyer and AFAD chairman Edcel Lagman told a news
\nconference.<\/p>\n
He said the objectives of the group were to secure justice for
\nthe disappeared, to put an end to the system of impunity that
\ngenerally keeps perpetrators from being punished, and to prevent
\nfuture abuses.<\/p>\n
AFAD is pushing for the issue to be tackled by both national
\nlaws and international agreements, he said. Lagman said treating
\ninvoluntary disappearances as a special, distinct offense would
\nmake them easier to prosecute.<\/p>\n
\"Let's call a spade a spade,\" he said. \"In cases of
\ninvoluntary disappearances there are political implications not
\nattendant in cases of common crimes.\"<\/p>\n
He said that involuntary disappearances are by definition
\ncrimes committed by the authorities, because rebel groups can be
\nprosecuted under existing laws.<\/p>\n
The number of disappeared in the countries where AFAD groups
\nare active is hard to pin down because different criteria are
\nused to count them.<\/p>\n
KDC Kumarage of Sri Lanka's Organizations of Parents and
\nFamily Members of the Disappeared said that 60,000 people were
\nestimated to have disappeared at the height of that island's
\ncivil conflict in 1988-90, while one official commission put the
\ntotal at about 28,000.<\/p>\n
Usman Hamid of Indonesia's Commission for the Disappeared
\nVictims of Violence said his group had documented 1,039 cases
\nsince 1965, a surprisingly low figure for the world's fourth most
\npopulous nation with a population of 228 million and a history of
\nrepression.<\/p>\n
He explained that the total did not include cases from such
\ntrouble spots as Irian Jaya, East Timor or Aceh. Other reasons
\nfor the low count included the difficulties of doing
\ninvestigations under the regime of former president Soeharto, and
\na reluctance to speak out on the part of the fearful families of
\nthe victims.<\/p>\n
The Philippines logged 1,767 cases since the regime of the
\nlate Ferdinand Marcos, and Kashmir about 2,000 cases.<\/p>\n
One of Lagman's own brothers, Hermon, also a labor lawyer,
\nremains unaccounted for after disappearing in 1977. Another,
\nprominent left-wing activist Filemon \"Popoy\" Lagman, was victim
\nin February last year of what Lagman claimed the first political
\nkilling to take place under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-
\nArroyo.<\/p>\n
AFAD members said they can claim some small victories so far.<\/p>\n
Lagman said the number of disappearances in the Philippines
\nwas declining, and a congresswoman is expected to submit a bill
\nestablishing a truth commission to ascertain the fate of the
\ndisappeared.<\/p>\n
In a Sri Lankan case involving the disappearance of 27
\nschoolchildren, several army officers and a school principal were
\ntried and seven of 11 were found guilty and jailed.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rights-groups-focus-on-forced-disappearance-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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