[STATEMENT] International Day of the Disappeared

Today, August 30th, on the International Day of the Disappeared, we remember our desaparecidos, and we call for justice and resurfacing of those who have been disappeared. Environmental human rights defenders, union leaders, student activists, and many other human rights defenders who strongly express dissent against oppressive regimes have been targeted by enforced disappearances, a severe means of political repression perpetuated by state forces.

 

 

Enforced disappearances can take the form of abduction, arrest, and/or detention, with state authorities refusing to acknowledge the disappearance or provide any information about the victim’s current state and location. Such tactics instill fear and insecurity as the loved ones remain clueless as to whether the abducted are dead or alive, leaving them worried about the kind of physical and emotional torture or extrajudicial killing that the disappeared may have been subjected to.

Across Asia, many defenders remain missing, with little justice achieved. Between 2013 and 2019, there have been around 30,000 reported cases of forced disappearances in China. Myanmar, on the other hand, since the junta takeover in 2021, has reported about 5,000 disappeared individuals. Cross-border enforced disappearances of activists from the Mekong region also remains an unresolved issue

South Asia is also marked by the countless missing, even decades after violent conflict. In Sri Lanka, according to the Association for Relatives of the Enforced Disappearances (ARED), from 1983 until the end of the civil war in 2009, almost 200,000 have been taken by the Sri Lankan military and security forces. In Nepal, the Maoist rebellion from 1996 to 2006 resulted in about 1,400 disappeared. The separatist conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan brought about 8,000-10,000 disappeared over the course of several decades, alongside many more grave human rights violations.

One of the most recent cases happened on August 22, 2024. Filipina environmental defender Rowena “Owen” Dasig was reportedly released from Lucena City Jail, due to made-up charges that were dismissed last August 20th. However, neither her legal counsel or family has seen her, and her whereabouts still remain unknown. We continue to echo calls to surface her immediately and safely.

Over the past year, we also circulated calls for support to find Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, and Eco Dangla and Jak Tiong, both pairs which fortunately were surfaced but continue to seek accountability from their perpetrators. We are gravely alarmed by how enforced disappearance is becoming a recurring tactic to silence environmental defenders in the Philippines.

Today, APNED calls to immediately and safely surface all who have been disappeared, and expresses its solidarity with the families, friends, and allies of victims of enforced disappearance. We demand accountability not only for the act of enforced disappearance, but also for the aggression, torture, and harassment victims suffer during detention and even after being surfaced.

#SurfaceAllDisappeared #DefendTheDefenders

References

Amnesty International. (2021, June 4). Cambodia/Thailand: One year on, still no justice for Wanchalearm. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/06/cambodiathailand-one-year-on-no-justice-wanchalearm-2/ 

____. (n.d.) Footprints: Virtual Museum on Enforced Disappearance in South Asia. https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/

De Vera, Sherwin. (2024, January 24). Without a Trace. Asia Democracy Chronicles. https://adnchronicles.org/2024/01/24/without-a-trace/

Frontline Defenders. (2024, April 2). Surface Environmental Defenders Eco Dangla III and Joxelle ‘Jak’ Tiong. Frontline Defenders. https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/surface-environmental-defenders-eco-dangla-iii-and-joxelle-jak-tiong

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2023). Enforced disappearances [Fact sheet]. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Fact-sheet6-Rev4.pdf