Justice Disappeared: Exploring the Links of Arms Trade, Impunity and Political Disapperances in Asia by Nv_I

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia

Justice Disappeared: Exploring the Links of Arms Trade, Impunity and Political Disapperances in Asia

by Amreen Choudhury and Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan ÂŠ 2007, Nonviolence International Southeast Asia www.nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia Nonviolence International Southeast Asia Office 104/20 Latprao Soi 124 Wangtonglang, Bangkok 10310 Thailand Tel/Fax: +66(0)29343289 seasia@nonviolenceinternational.net

ISBN 978-974-7119-73-2 Use of material within this report is encouraged, with acknowledgement. Cover design: Ed Legaspi & Fe Villena Explanation on the cover photo, and credits for quotes and graphics used on section dividers are on page 106.

Justice Disappeared Exploring the Links of Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia

by Amreen Choudhury and Yeshua Moser Puangsuwan

Nonviolence International Southeast Asia

Justice Disappeared

Contents Foreword

Acknowledgement

Acronyms

Background

Objective

Definitions

Methodology

Coverage and Format

Introduction

Philippines The Disappeared and their Perpetrators

Sri Lanka

Kashmir

Pakistan

Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees

The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees

The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Inbox: The Plights of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Half-Widowsâ&#x20AC;? in Kashmir The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia

Nepal

Indonesia

Thailand

84 88 90 92

Conclusion & Recommendations

Sources

101

The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Inbox: The Female Victims of Disappearances in Nepal The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees

Burma/Myanmar

The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Illicit Use of Firearms Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees

East Asia briefs China Korea Taiwan Occupied Tibet

Justice Disappeared

Foreword Enforced and involuntary disappearances have been known to have happened in different parts of the world for a long time. In Thailand enforced and involuntary disappearances have for a long time happened continuously in the past until today. Nobody can answer where the missing people are. What is the truth involved? Who should be held responsible for enforced disappearances and how? Meanwhile, a large number of anonymous bodies have been found in every region of Thailand, the scale of which has increased year after year. So far, government has never made an effort to provide information on who these anonymous bodies are. Who are their relatives? And who have taken their lives? There has been no effort to bring these involuntary disappeared people back home, back to their loving family and to their loved ones. During the past 4-5 years there were rumors that hundreds of people from the three southernmost provinces of Thailand had been forcibly disappeared. Some said there were less than a hundred, others said it was countless. Yet, the fact about these enforced disappearances has never been revealed to the public. People are overwhelmed by fear to the point that they are unable to speak up to let their fellow brothers and sisters know that their fathers, husbands or sons had been forcibly disappeared. Nobody dares to stand up asking for justice on behalf of their family members although they can rightfully question the government and have rights to obtain responses from the government. The enforced disappearance of prominent human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit on March 12, 2004 has widely raised awareness on the human rights issue in Thai society with regard to enforced and involuntary disappearances. Somchaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case drew attention from human rights defenders all over the world. With strong pressure put on the Thai government by such a high profile case, the state finally admitted that Somchai did disappeare. Consequently, five policemen from the Crime Suppression Division were arrested and charged with coercion and theft. Somchaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forced disappearance is a first of its kind case being brought to the Thai court. It was the case filed by civilians against the state agents. The trials were filled with difficulties and obstacles, to name a few, no forensic science was used to prove the authenticity of material witnesses, no thorough and extended investigation or inquiry into the case was made. Even important evidences being presented to the court were photocopies, the originals of which were nowhere to be found. And no senior officials came to verify these documents in the court. These can be seen as obvious weaknesses of the investigation arm of our justice system, whether it is intentional or unintentional. It seriously undermines the process of seeking truth and justice.

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia

Nonetheless, the judge ruled that the first defendant, who is a policeman from the Crime Suppression Division, together with 3-5 accomplices are guilty of coercing Somchai into a vehicle driven by the defendants. Nobody has ever seen Somchai again and no one can answer whether he is still alive. Somchaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case has inspired more than 20 families in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand to come forward to seek justice for the missing members of their families. In the past, the Thai government has tried very hard to help families of the disappeared by providing redress or other assistance. However, they never talk about justice, or made an effort to find the disappeared and the perpetrators. Although the struggle for enforced and involuntary disappeared in Thailand has just begun and nobody knows how long it will take to find truth and justice, I strongly believe that one day the truth shall be revealed and everybody must bear the fruit of their own actions. On behalf of those who have lost their loved ones, I am pleading with the Thai justice system for hope and determination. Although the justice system cannot bring life back to the disappeared, it can be responsible for redeeming the disappeared and their families with equal justice. It is immoral for the justice system to deny its responsibility for seeking the truth. Instead they must restore human dignity for the disappeared, their families, and every Thai citizen as much as they can.

Angkana Neelapaijit Working Group on Justice and Peace Bangkok July 16, 2006

Justice Disappeared

Acknowledgement This report would not have been possible without the cooperation, activity and contributions of many individuals and organizations. Within Nonviolence International, our appreciation is extended to Sirinrath Tesvisarn, who began the initial compilation of the documents on which this report is based; Maria Fe Villena for the layout and presentation of the report; and Fred Lubang and Diana Sarosi for advice and support. We are also grateful to Anitra Puangsuwan for the English translation of Angkhana Neelaphaijit’s foreword which was originally in Thai. We recognize the valuable financial support extended by the Small Arms Survey in Geneva and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). We acknowledge the cooperation and support which has consistently been offered by AFAD’s Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso and the AFAD members: Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (Kashmir); KontraS Commission for the Disappeared Victims of Violence and IKOHI (Indonesia); Truth & Justice Commission (Pakistan); Organization of Parents and Family members of the Disappeared (Sri Lanka); the Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes (Thailand); and the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (Philippines). Also the Presidential Commission on Suspicious Deaths (S. Korea); the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign group (China); the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy (in-Exile); and the 288 Memorial Museum (Taiwan). A special thanks is offered to Gu-Chu-Sum (organisation of expolitical prisoners from Tibet) and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners of Burma. We appreciate the use of quotations from family members interviewed by the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Missing Project, these are reprinted with permission of the ICRC. Some of our contributors would prefer to remain anonymous. The authors take full responsibility for the material in the report and are responsible for errors and omissions, should they have occurred.

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia

Acronyms AFAD – Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances AFP – Armed Forces of the Philippines ALRC – Asian Legal Resource Centre APDP – Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons APF – Armed Police Force ATT – Arms Trade Treaty CAFGU – Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit CAVR – Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor CMP – Common Minimum Program CHDF – Civilian Home Defense Forces COHA – Cessation of Hostilities Agreement CPN-M – Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) CPP – Communist Party of the Philippines FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation FIND – Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances FMF – Foreign Military Financing FMS – Foreign Military Sales GAM – Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement) HRCP – Human Rights Commission of Pakistan ICHDF – Integrated Civilian Home Defense Force IKOHI – Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared IMET – International Military Education and Training INFID – International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development INP – Integrated National Police IPKF – Indian Peacekeeping Force INSN – International Nepal Solidarity Network J&K – Jammu and Kashmir Komnas HAM – National Human Rights Commission in Indonesia JSC – Joint Security Council JVP – Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front) KADENA – Youth for Democracy and Nationalism KMU – Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) KontraS – Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence LBH Aceh – Legal Aid Foundation in Aceh LTTE – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam MNLF - Moro National Liberation Front NAD – Nangroe Aceh Darussalam NESOHR – North East Secretariat on Human Rights NFSW – National Federation of Sugar Workers

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NHRC - National Human Rights Commission NDF – National Democratic Front NPA – New People’s Army NPKC – National Peace Keeping Council NVI-SEA – Nonviolence International Southeast Asia OPFMD – Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared PC – Philippine Constabulary PDP – People’s Democratic Party PHRA – Protection of Human Rights Act PNP – Philippine National Police PPC – Papua Presidium Council RNA – Royal Nepalese Army RNP – Royal Nepalese Police SGI – Special Armed Forces Intelligence SHRC – State Human Rights Commission (for Jammu and Kashmir) SMID – Solidarity of Indonesian Students for Democracy TADA – Terrorist and Destructive Activities Act (also known as the Control and Punishment Act in Nepal) TFDP – Task Force Detainees of the Philippines UN – United Nations UNWGEID – United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances

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Background Governments across Asia, in the recent past and currently, have employed the State security apparatus to enforce disappearance of some of their citizens for political objectives: to avert democratic tendencies or as a part of counter insurgency actions. Many conditioning factors must come together to enable human rights crimes such as political disappearances. There needs to be a lack of due process and accountability, political circumstances and the political will to do violence, access to arms to carry out the violence and agents trained to do this, and secrecy, fear and impunity. Two of these: the political will to commit the crime on the part of the State and a corresponding climate of impunity in which state agents of the crime are rarely, if ever, brought to justice allow for the mobilization of state crimes. In a climate of impunity, the justice system becomes distorted, corrupted and complicit in the crime. The State structure will then fail to respond to the needs of the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families who seldom receive justice or any form of redress for their suffering. In most cases, enforced disappearance can not occur without the coercive presence and/or use of firearms by official agents on whom the state relies to carry out these premeditated human rights crimes. The role of small arms in enabling politically-motivated involuntary disappearances has been pivotal as the overwhelming majority of documented disappearance cases in Asia have shown the presence and/or use of small arms during extra-legal or arbitrary arrests and abductions through which disappearance crimes are perpetrated. Evidence of weapons use in the commission of disappearances is frequently revealed when the bodies of the disappeared reappear or are recovered through exhumations, in which the bullets that were used for their extra-judicial executions are often found nearby. This raises the question of complicity of other states in specific human rights crimes by a particular state, if the weapons are supplied externally.

Objective The United Nations Program of Action (UN PoA) to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects has been the key process through which the global community is addressing the scourge of firearm proliferation and the suffering that they cause. However, it is solely a political and non-binding process which focuses on a very narrow understanding and interpretation

12 Justice Disappeared of illicit possession and illicit trade of small arms. Officially sanctioned firearms under the possession of State actors and security forces are conspicuous in their absence in the discussions around the UN PoA despite the fact, which is highlighted within this report, that officially held weapons can become illicit when used extra-legally by the State. It has been depressingly ordinary for state agents to employ their officially provided arms to commit politically motivated crimes, such as enforced and involuntary disappearances, and other human rights abuses. In many cases this could be predicted prior to the supply of the weapons through international trade. Arms continue to be supplied readily to governments within Asia despite well documented patterns of severe human rights violations. In some cases this has generated humanitarian crises and always undermines human security. The humanitarian and human rights dimensions of the small arms issue are missing from the UN PoA due to the bias towards state security rather than human security. Illicit use of small arms in politically-motivated enforced disappearances is an attack on human security, a gross violation of human rights and, in situations of armed conflict, humanitarian laws . The illicit use of small arms to commit disappearance crimes exists in the Asian countries where impunity and amnesty are prevalent. This report is the first attempt to classify firearms as illicit through use in the context of State-instigated politically-motivated disappearance crimes. In response to these lacks under the UN PoA, civil society organizations, including Nonviolence International, launched a campaign for an Arms Trade Treaty(ATT) to encourage governments to urgently engage in negotiations toward a legally binding treaty on arms transfers, specifically one which takes into account obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. After three years of activity by these civil society actors, and some key cooperating governments, the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament in October 2006 passed a resolution titled: ‘Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms’ (A/C.1/61/L.55). 139 governments out of 164 voted in favour of the resolution. The resolution commits the UN to set up a Group of Governmental Experts to establish the basis for “a comprehensive, legally-binding instrument establishing common standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms”.

Definitions Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances: According to the 1992 United Nations “Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance” (A/RES/47/133), enforced and involuntary disappearances take place when:

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 13

“…persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized 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…” According to Article 2(1)(i) of the Rome Stature of the International Criminal Court, enforced and involuntary disappearances are categorized as crimes against humanity that occur when: “…the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time…”

Small Arms, Light Weapons and Ammunitions: There are no universally-accepted definitions of what falls under the categories of small arms, light weapons and ammunitions. The definitions tend to vary from country to country in which some States only regard military weapons to fall under the categories of small arms, light weapons and ammunitions, while other States include weapons such as “knives” in their definitions that fall outside the United Nation’s descriptions of small arms. The working definitions of small arms, light weapons and ammunitions included in this report are that of the 1997 United Nations “Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms” (A/52/298). Small Arms include i) revolvers and self-loading pistols, ii) rifles and carbines, iii) submachine guns, iv) assault rifles, v) and light machine guns. Light Weapons include i) heavy machine guns, ii) hand-held under-barrel and mounted grenade launchers, iii) portable anti-aircraft guns, iv) portable anti-tank guns and recoilless rifles, v) portable launchers of anti-tank missile and rocket systems, vi) portable launchers of anti-craft missile systems, vii) and mortars of calibers of less than 100mm.

See Katherine Kramer’s Legal Controls on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Southeast Asia. Nonviolence International and Small Arms Survey, July 2001, pp. 4-6.

14 Justice Disappeared Ammunitions and Explosives include i) cartridges (rounds) for small arms, ii) shells and missiles for light weapons, iii) mobile containers with missiles or shells for singleaction anti-aircraft and anti-tank systems, iv) anti-personnel and anti-tank hand grenades, v) landmines, vi) and explosives.

Methodology This report examines the phenomenon of enforced and involuntary disappearances in detail for the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan and Nepal, and the disputed territory of Kashmir, and more briefly for Burma/Myanmar, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Occupied Tibet. For each of these places, the perpetrators of disappearances are identified along with the political context under which the premeditated state crimes are carried out, although a full political history is beyond the scope of this publication. The presence and/or use of small arms by state agents in the commission of disappearance incidents is provided through known documentation of local non-governmental organizations or other civil society groups formed by the families and relatives of the missing, or from media reports. Nonviolence International Southeast Asia worked cooperatively with NGOs and civil society groups of the countries included in this report to reveal and identify whether small arms were present, and/or used, during abductions and arbitrary arrests after which a person disappeared. Especially to review, if possible, the type and manufacture of the arms used during an actual or threatened abduction, or the types of ammunitions recovered, such as bullets and shells, from forensic analysis of the bodies of the disappeared that reappeared after exhumations or discovery. The focus within this report on the presence and use of firearms in facilitating disappearance crimes reveals that legally-sanctioned arms and weapons can become illicit when used to commit crimes against humanity and human rights abuses. This report also briefly considers what legal and institutional mechanisms exist in each country or territory, and how disappearance crimes could be addressed and prevented, particularly, the overall role of the national human rights commissions (in the countries where they exist) in investigating, reporting and redressing incidents of disappearances.

Coverage and Format In Burma/Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand as well as China and South Korea, specific historical instances occurred during which large numbers of civilians disappeared as

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 15

democracy uprisings were violently suppressed in order to derail mass protest. These historical events, where a very large number of citizens disappeared at a singular point in time, are analyzed against a background of continuing low level use of enforced disappearances in Burma/Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. Politically-motivated disappearances also occur during counter-insurgency operations. Within actions to combat insurgencies some state authorities have attacked all perceived threats or criticism against the status quo, even nonviolent ones. In this environment, arbitrary or extra-legal arrests and abductions lead to the disappearance of individuals who are critical of the existing state policies and practices. This report first examines the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Pakistan and Nepal, which are plagued with occurrences of enforced disappearances in the context of counter-insurgency warfare. Burma/ Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand, face problems of enforced and involuntary disappearances as a result of the States’ attempts to combat insurgencies while repeatedly undermining the democratic political and legal processes. Disappearances in each of the countries or territories included are covered in 3 sections. The 1st section “The Disappeared and their Perpetrators” attempts to define who the victims and targets of disappearances are along with the perpetrators that have been identified to have committed the disappearance crimes. The 2nd section “Illicit Use of Firearms” identifies the presence and/or use of weapons in disappearance incidents as indicated through evidence gathered by NGOs and civil society groups formed by the relatives of the missing individuals or through media and other human rights reports. This section provides details of weapons used during disappearance crimes from known data collected by NGOs and civil society groups responding to forced disappearances. The 3rd section “Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees” briefly details capacities of the national legal and institutional entities that exist in each of the countries to report on or investigate complaints of enforced disappearances, or provide any legal and financial compensation to the victims and their families, combined with activities by existing national human rights commissions on disappearance cases. The objective of this report is addressed in the “Conclusion” showing the gaps and limitations in the UN PoA in tackling the human rights and humanitarian dimensions in international arms trade. This leads to our “Recommendations” for the immediate and urgent adaptation of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) through which many of the shortcomings in the UN PoA are addressed. We also urge that States criminalize the practice of enforced and involuntary disappearances under their domestic laws as stipulated in the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

16 Justice Disappeared

Disappearances & Gender The female victims of disappearances or the women who have been deeply impacted by the disappearance of their loved ones are often overlooked when addressing enforced and involuntary disappearances in Asia. Gender disaggregated data on disappearances is unavailable in most Asian countries. Missing victims are usually believed to be males, but collecting any information about missing individuals is generally challenging and difficult, if not dangerous, due to the clandestine nature of disappearance crimes. The situation of female missing victims and the experience of women who have been victimized by disappearances within their families, are briefly covered in 2 boxes: The Plight of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Half-Widowsâ&#x20AC;? in Kashmir, is at the end of the disappearance section on Kashmir; The Female Victims of Disappearances in Nepal, is included after the section on Nepal.

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 17

Introduction In the Asian region, reports of disappearances in the midst of civil war or internal political instability have surfaced in many countries in which state-initiated arbitrary arrests and abductions have been a part of the response to combat insurgencies and civilian uprisings. In all the situations covered in this report, the typical scenario of an individual’s disappearance involves the arrest or abduction of a victim either suddenly from their homes in the middle of the night or from a public place. Many victims, prior to their disappearance, received warning in the form of being followed by groups of armed men, and by having received anonymous death threats. Accoding to testimonies and eye witness accounts, the perpetrators of disappearances in most cases are allegedly members of the state security sector—the police, the military forces and/or other state or quasi-state entities—even if the offenders were not in uniform during the commission of the crime. In a few cases, particularly in the Philippines and Nepal, abductions by armed insurgent groups are alleged, but the vast majority of disappearance crimes in Asia are committed by the State. During arrests and/or abductions, the perpetrators may be in civilian clothes, but are usually heavily armed. The presence and/or use of firearms to intimidate the victims and their families into compliance during the arrests and abductions are common practice during disappearance crimes. The quasi-legal nature of the “arrests” undermines democratic practice and destroys faith law enforcement procedures. Other instances of disappearances have occurred during historical events in which the ruling power suppressed popular mass dissent aiming to challenge their legitimacy to hold power or undermine the status quo, as exemplified by events in Burma/Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. During these events, masses of unarmed citizens, in all cases espousing democracy, were violently attacked and/or seized by the state security forces in an attempt to prevent regime change or halt democratic political transitions. In such situations, it has been difficult to determine where the seized victims were taken, if they were placed under arrest in secret prisons, and, if executed, what happened to the remains. Whether the victims are arbitrarily arrested or abducted under counter-insurgency operations, from their homes or during public demonstrations, the families and friends

The distinction between arrests and abductions is often hazy in cases of involuntary disappearances because of the arbitrary and secretive nature of the “arrests”.

Even in the cases where the witnesses have not directly seen the presence of arms, the perpetrators are still perceived to be armed because it is not unusual for the police and security forces to carry arms in Asia even when they are not in duty.

18 Justice Disappeared

of the seized are almost always systematically denied information on the whereabouts of the arrestees or abductees. Commonly authorities deny having arrested the individual in the first place, despite the fact that there may be eyewitness accounts of the arrest. Reports of hostility, threats, harassments, arrests, imprisonments and even executions faced by family members and friends of the victims who enquired about the status and whereabouts of their relatives are distressingly common. A climate of impunity enabling offenders to commit disappearance crimes without legal accountability, is prevalent in Asia. Enforced and involuntary disappearances are still not considered to be criminal acts under most national law. Under these circumstances, arrestees and abductees are susceptible to disappear in a system which conceals and wipes out evidence of unlawful conduct by the perpetrators while creating immense difficulties for the victims’ families and other civilians to discover the truth about the missing individuals. NGOs and local organizations formed by relatives of the disappeared, in several Asian countries have kept accounts of disappearance incidents in spite of the difficulties and risks involved in documenting such cases. In Kashmir, families of the missing are prohibited by the authorities from documenting disappearance cases or from commemorating their loved ones who have gone missing. Such state restrictions run counter to principles of human rights law and international humanitarian law. National legal mechanisms to address disappearances often fall to recently established national Human Rights Commissions (NHRC’s). Yet, NHRCs in Asia usually have very limited capacities and mandates. They may investigate report and offer recommendations for legal actions regarding disappearance complaints, but their functions are only partially autonomous, contrary to the Paris Principles regarding the status and functions of national human rights institutions. The NHRCs lack the authority to prosecute perpetrators or to order other government institutions to take legal actions against the violators. Most NHRCs in Asia are unable to offer protection to witnesses or family members when reporting disappearance incidents or must depend on the police to do this, even in those cases where the police are believed to be involved in the disappearance. In many Asian States, national human rights commissions still do not exist.

In many Asian countries, acts of homicide, or kidnapping for ransom, have to be proven before legal charges can be filed against an offender. The Paris Principles are a series of recommendations on the role, status, composition and functions of national human rights mechanisms that were drawn up on October 1991 in Paris, France by representatives of national human rights institutions from different parts of the globe. The recommendations from the Paris Principles have been endorsed by the UN’s General Assembly Resolution A/RES/48/134 which was adopted on 20 December 1993. See United Nations’ General Assembly Resolution A/RES/48/134 on “National institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights”, 20 December 1993, at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r134.htm.

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 19

20 Justice Disappeared

PHILIPPINES The Disappeared and their Perpetrators The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) has been highly active in documenting disappearance cases under different regimes in the Philippines starting from Marcos’ rule. Between 1985 and 2003, total of 1,852 individuals have been recorded missing in the Philippines according to the TFDP, out of which 232 dead bodies reappeared after exhumations or discovery, while 327 individuals who were once missing surfaced alive. Until today, the fate and whereabouts of 1,082 individuals who disappeared sometime between the years 1985 and 2003 remain unknown. Most disappearances recorded by TFDP occurred during the rule of Ferdinand E. Marcos and Corazon C. Aquino. Some 850 individuals disappeared under the Marcos regime, of which 596 still reported missing. Politically-motivated disappearances continued at a large scale even after the overthrow of Marcos as another 820 disappeared during the years when Aquino was in power, of which 407 continue to be missing. Disappearances continued at a lower rate under subsequent presidencies. Under Fidel V. Ramos’ government, 87 persons were reported disappeared, of which 40 are still missing. Another 58 went missing during the presidency of Joseph Estrada, of which the whereabouts of 16 individuals continue to be unknown.10 Under the current government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 37 disappearance cases have been reported by the TFDP, of which 23 individuals are still missing.11 The TFDP has identified the Armed Forces of the

See the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines’ “An NGO report on the Philippine implementation of the ICCPR, September 2003, at http://www.tfdp.org/resources/ar_uniccpr.htm.

The TFDP notes that out of the 850 reported disappearance incidents in the Philippines during the Marcos regime, 132 reappeared alive while another 122 were found dead.

108 of the disappeared later surfaced alive while 96 missing individuals were discovered dead.

37 surfaced alive and 10 were found dead.

39 missing individuals reappeared alive and 3 were discovered dead.

So far, 11 missing persons reappeared alive and 1 was found dead.

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Philippines (AFP) to be the main perpetrator of enforced disappearances as they have been linked to 948 disappearance cases over the years. Other state security forces who also have been responsible for forced disappearances are the Philippine Constabulary (PC) and the Integrated National Police (INP). According to TFDP’s records, 225 disappearances have been allegedly attributed to the PC and the INP. The paramilitary groups responsible for 203 disappearance crimes include the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and the Civilian Home Defense Forces (CHDF). The Philippine National Police (PNP) has been linked to 60 disappearances, while other vigilante groups have been identified to have caused 43 disappearances. The TFDP also reports that 162 disappearances have been perpetrated by unidentified government officials and state agents. The insurgent group, the New People’s Army (NPA), which is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), may also have been involved in some disappearances as they have been known to abduct and execute civilians suspected of collaborating or being information agents for the government.12 Disappearances in the Philippines have mostly occurred during government counterinsurgency operations against the CPP and its armed wing the NPA, and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Individuals suspected of having links with these insurgency groups were systematically disappeared by state agents and security forces after arbitrary arrests and/or abductions in which many victims were extra-judicially killed or detained in undisclosed locations. State authorities adopted hard-line counter-insurgency strategies especially after the disintegration of the peace process between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF - which represented the CPP and the NPA) in the mid-90s. During that time, the police, military, semi-official paramilitary forces and various vigilante groups actively began to combat insurgencies. Even members of nonviolent and officially-registered NGOs and civil society groups sometimes became targets of politically-motivated disappearances for being critical of the government and/or being alledged to have affiliations with the CPP or the NPA.13 Few perpetrators were ever brought to justice or held legally accountable for disappearance crimes, creating a climate of impunity in the Philippines. The Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND) states in its report that of the 1,852 individuals who disappeared sometime during the years between 1985 and 2003, 769 missing persons have been identified as farmers while another 244 have

See Amnesty International’s “Philippines – Not Forgotten: The Fate of the ‘Disappeared’”, ASA/35/008/1996, 1 November 1996, at http://web.amnesty.org.library/Index/ENGASA3500819 96?open&of=ENG-PHL. 12

As reported in Amnesty International’s “Philippines: Not forgotten the fate of the ‘disappeared’”, 1 November 1996, at http://web.amnesty.org.library/Index/ENGASA350081996?open& of=ENG-PHL. 13

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been categorized as workers.14 Farmers and workers were major targets of disappearances as the government officials and state security forces often accused them of being agrarian and labor activists with strong connections to insurgency groups such as the NPA and CPP. Members of farmers’ organizations such as the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) along with members of labor unions such as the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement) and student groups such as Youth for Democracy and Nationalism (KADENA) also became victims of forced disappearances.15 Other members of religious groups and human rights organizations as well as civilians critical of various Filipino governments have also gone missing over the years. There have been reports of disappearances in all 16 regions in the Philippines with the western regions having been most affected by disappearances.16 The highest numbers of disappearances recorded have been from the Western Visayas region where 314 individuals were reported missing and 10 bodies of the disappeared were exhumed. The Western Mindanao region holds the second highest number of disappearances with 187 missing, out of which 33 were exhumed. Overall, the bodies of 66 missing persons who disappeared during Marcos’ and Aquino’s regime reappeared after exhumations. Young civilians were the main victims of disappearance crimes as about 40.1% of the missing had been between 16-25 years old, while another 32.6% were within the 26-35 age range. All discovery/ exhumations were carried out by civil society.

Illicit Use of Firearms Documentation by FIND has indicated the presence and use of firearms in the majority of disappearance cases. Most missing persons in FIND’s database disappeared through abductions by non-uniformed state agents and security forces at gunpoint. In most cases, the perpetrators wore civilian clothes during the crime and carried highpowered firearms to force the abductees into compliance. FIND held the Filipino armed forces, the police and the military intelligence groups accountable for perpetrating most disappearance incidents, and they also identified paramilitary groups such as the ICHDF and CAFGU for carrying out disappearance crimes under the direction

See Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances’ (FIND) “Overall Results of FIND’s Search and Documentation Work over the Past 17.5 Years, November 1985-May 24, 2003” in the Statistics section of Asian Federation Against Disappearances’ (AFAD) website at http://www. afadonline.org/afadweb/home.html. 14

According to Amnesty International’s “Philippines: Not forgotten the fate of the ‘disappeared’”, 1 November 1996, at http://web.amnesty.org.library/Index/ENGASA350081996?open&of=ENG -PHL. 15

The regional distribution of disappearances along with the number of exhumations carried out and the age of the missing victims are all in FIND’s “Overall Results of FIND’s Search and Documentation Work over the Past 17.5 Years, November 1985-May 24, 2003” in the Statistics section of AFAD’s website at http://www.afadonline.org/afadweb/home.html. 16

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of the military. The NPA have also been reported to have been responsible for a few disappearance cases. The arms used during abductions included the A1 M16 assault rifle known as Hydra as well as M14 and M1 Garand rifles. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are known for carrying these firearms, and the United States of America is the supplier of the arms used by the Filipino military. FIND identified a company called ELISCO to be the local manufacturer of M16 rifles. Eyewitness accounts indicated the use of firearms in many incidents of enforced disappearances. The use of weapons in disappearance cases were also confirmed by the evidence of bullets and casings that were often found during exhumation activities or from mass grave sites where bodies of the missing had been secretly buried. FIND has been present during exhumation processes in the Philippines. Out of the 66 exhumed bodies, 52 victims were found to have been killed by firearms, while the other 14 victims were murdered by knives or daggers according to forensic analysis and autopsy reports. Moreover, caliber 30 garand and caliber 45 slugs were recovered from many of the exhumed bodies. The bullet shells found near the exhumation sites were verified to have come from M14 and M16 rifles used by the security forces in the Philippines. FIND affirms that weapons are â&#x20AC;&#x153;a necessary ingredientâ&#x20AC;? in perpetrating involuntary disappearances, and that disappearance crimes in most cases are unlikely to occur without the presence and/or use of arms to intimidate the victims and their families into compliance. In the majority of disappearance incidents, heavilyarmed group of men force the victims and their families to obey orders at gun point. In many instances, the victims are struck and beaten with rifles if they hesitate to follow orders.

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Legal guarantees to prevent disappearances and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes are very weak as no specific law exists in the Philippines which designates disappearance as a crime. Evidence of murders, kidnappings or serious illegal detentions is required to open a legal case against the perpetrators of forced disappearances. Thus, it is difficult to urge the Filipino government to investigate and prosecute the accused on the basis of disappearance alone. Accordingly, this has fostered a climate of impunity for those responsible for enforced and involuntary disappearances. For many years, FIND has advocated for the passage of House Bill 1913, â&#x20AC;&#x153;An Act Penalizing

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Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and For Other Purposes.”17 The Philippine government has a national Commission on Human Rights (CHR) which has been appointed to head a national Task Force on Disappearances. The CHR has a limited mandate to address disappearance cases and has faced criticism for solely being an investigative body that is unable to offer legal protection to the witnesses and the families of the missing after they place complaints to the CHR.18 The CHR also lacks prosecutorial power to take legal action against anyone identified to have perpetrated a disappearance. Out of the 1,509 cases of human rights abuses filed by the CHR between 1987 and 1990, Amnesty International notes that only 11 perpetrators were given very minor penalties and few of these cases involved disappearance. In 2004, 14 disappearance-related cases in which the State was the alleged perpetrator were pending in Filipino courts.19 The Government of the Philippines under President Ramos dispersed minimal financial compensation to some of the families of the disappeared through FIND and other NGOs.20 Families of the missing who were registered by FIND or other NGOs were each entitled to receive about US$384 if they could prove the disappearance of a relative. However, only 20 families were reported to have received this compensation in 1994. The CHR was designated to release compensation funds to the NGOs, but much of the fund was returned to the national treasury due to bureaucratic problems and delays.

See FIND’s “Overall Results of FIND’s Search and Documentation Work over the Past 17.5 Years, November 1985-May 24, 2003” in the Statistics section of AFAD’s website at http://www. afadonline.org/afadweb/home.html. 17

18 The CHR’s legal and operational limitations along with the number of human rights cases filed by the CHR that have been tried in court are illustrated in Amnesty International’s “Philippines: Not forgotten the fate of the ‘disappeared’”, 1 November 1996, at http://web.amnesty.org.library/ Index/ENGASA350081996?open&of=ENG-PHL.

See U.S. Department of States “East Asia and the Pacific: Philippines”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2004/41657.htm. 19

See Amnesty International’s “Philippines: Not forgotten the fate of the ‘disappeared’”, 1 November 1996, at http://web.amnesty.org.library/Index/ENGASA350081996?open&of=ENGPHL. 20

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26 Justice Disappeared

SRI LANKA The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Between the mid-80s to the mid-90s, an estimated 52,800 people vanished in Sri Lanka’s internal conflicts. 44,000 were documented to be Sinhalese civilians who disappeared sometime between 1987 and 1993 during the suppression of an armed rebellion by the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front – JVP).21 Some 8,800 disappeared individuals were Sri Lankan Tamils, who have been missing since 1995. However, the real figure for disappearances of Tamil civilians is likely to be much higher due to the ongoing armed conflict in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka where majority of the Sri Lankan Tamils reside. Collecting accurate information and data from the war-ravaged northern and eastern parts has been difficult due to restrictions by both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Between 1974 and 2004, the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) has recorded 2,483 missing Tamil civilians who disappeared in the northeastern region of Sri Lanka.22 NESOHR’s report alleges that the Sri Lankan military is the main perpetrator of forced disappearances in the northeast and responsible for 2,067 cases. Armed groups, specifically the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front – JVP) have been linked to 285 disappearances in the northeast as indicated by NESOHR. The Indian Army is also alleged to be an agent of disappearances in Sri Lanka. Between 1987 and 1990 an Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) was in the country as part of a peace accord operant at that time. Civilian casualties and disappearances increased in the northern and eastern territories under IPKFs control. NESOHR states that 1990 had the highest numbers of disappearances in a single year as 656 individuals were recorded missing. 104 disappearances were attributed to the IPKF, and a further 27 disappearance incidents have been linked to unofficial Sinhala militias allegedly organized and given weapons by the Sri Lankan military.

See Champika Liyanaarrachchi’s “52,800 Missing: Sri Lanka has no Answers”. OneWorld South Asia, 11 December 2003, at http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/75001/1/. 21

See North East Secretariat on Human Rights’ (NESOHR) “Statistics on civilians affected by war in northeast: 1974-2004”, January 2005. This report indicates that it could not capture more accurate information in the eastern parts of Sri Lanka due to devastations caused by the Tsunami, which made data-collection very difficult in 2004 and 2005. Nevertheless, this report provides statistics on the numbers of persons missing in the northeast, and identifies both the perpetrators 22

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Most disappearances in the northeast took place in Jaffna where 1,046 were recorded to be missing out of the 2,483 disappearance cases that NESOHR recorded between the year 1974 and 2004. Batticaloa had the second highest numbers of disappearances in the northeast at 397. Young Tamil civilians and children have been the prime targets of forced disappearances in the northeast as 942 missing individuals have been identified to fall within the age bracket of 21 to 30 years old, while another 500 disappeared persons belong to the age group of 11 to 20 years old. There also have been reports of 23 missing Tamil children under the age of 10, while 7 documented disappearance incidents involved elderly victims over the age of 80 according to NESOHR. Out of the 2,483 individuals that disappeared in the northeast, 552 of the missing persons have been described by NESOHR to be self-employed and another 419 have been identified to be laborers. Tamil students also have been a major target for disappearances as 364 students went missing in the northeast. Other disappeared Tamil civilians include fishermen, farmers, employees of public and private institutions as well as people who worked in formal and informal sectors.

Illicit Use of Firearms The Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (OPFMD) is an organization of families of disappeared people in Sri Lanka and a member of AFAD. OPFMD identified use, or threatened use, of firearms as something which always occurred during disappearances, abductions or arbitrary arrests. Weapons used in forced disappearances included pistols, automatic rifles, Uzi sub-machine guns and T-56 machine guns, which were indicated to have been of Russian, Israeli and Chinese origin. The OPFMD held the police, military, paramilitary groups, state agents and quasi-state agents or proxies of the state to be responsible for most politically-motivated disappearance crimes. The OPFMD believe that 99% of the missing seized by state agents and security forces were not involved in any political activities. Eyewitness accounts and testimonies from the family members reveal that many missing victims in Sri Lanka disappeared after arbitrary arrests at gunpoint by armed police or security forces. Perpetrators threatened to use firearms when the victims resisted

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such arrests. Â After arrest, the involved agency, if identifiable, refused to reveal the whereabouts and fate of the arrestees to the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families. Â Other missing individuals in Sri Lanka have disappeared after being seized in isolated places. Evidence of firearm use in the execution of the missing has been revealed when thousands of bodies were recovered during exhumations, or after corpses were found floating in rivers and marshes. Firearm use by perpetrators was confirmed through autopsies revealing gunshot wounds in the corpses of many reappeared. Some of the bullets and ammunitions recovered were identified to have come from T-56 automatic rifles and other weapons used by the police and state security forces. In other cases, the victims were unidentifiable and the gunshot injuries were difficult to determine because the corpses were severely dismembered and/or burned by the offenders in order to wipe out key evidence through which the identity of the perpetrators could be traced. Many clandestine mass graves have been discovered in Sri Lanka. The OPFMD notes that bodies have been exhumed for investigation from only few clandestine graves so far and exhumations remain incomplete in the majority of these mass graves. Thus, large numbers of unidentified bodies remain interred in clandestine graves which have not undergone any forensic analysis. The exact number of missing who were extrajudicially executed in Sri Lanka is unknown. The OPFMD is emphatic about the fact that the disappearances would not have taken place without the presence and/or use of small arms by the offenders to intimidate individuals during arrests and abductions. Potential victims may well have challenged the unjust arrest or otherwise disobeyed the orders of the perpetrators, strongly resisting the arbitrary arrests by arguing against such commands or getting neighbors involved had weapons not been present during the crime. It would have been very difficult for the perpetrators to carry out disappearances through abduction without resort to arms. However, it is common in Sri Lanka for the police and state security forces, who have been identified to be the main perpetrators of forced disappearances, to carry firearms even when they are not on official duty. The Sri Lankan government imports arms and weapons for policing and military use from many different countries, including the U.S.A., U.K., Russia, Israel, Singapore, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, Ukraine, Iran, Pakistan and India.

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Several Presidential Commissions on Disappearances have been established since 1987 to report and inquire about the incidents of disappearances. Many pending inquiries about disappearances remain unexamined by the Presidential Commissions. In 2001, the 4th Presidential Commission was reportedly investigating 10,136 cases of disap-

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pearances which were supposed to have been investigated by previous Commissions.23 Furthermore, the 4th Commission admitted to have received an additional 16,305 complaints of disappearances, which it lacked the power and capacity to investigate. According to the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), the Presidential Commissions have investigated 27,526 complaints of disappearances out of which evidence of enforced and involuntary disappearances were confirmed in 16,742 cases. Furthermore, nearly 7,000 perpetrators of disappearances have been identified by eye witnesses as indicated by the OPFMD. Few perpetrators of disappearances, identified through investigations by the Presidential Commissions, have been brought to justice. Six security forces personnel and a high school principal found guilty for the disappearance of 25 people between 1989 and 1990 were penalized with 10 years of imprisonment. In June 1998, seven soldiers who were accused of raping and murdering a teenager in Jaffna were given death sentences. After their conviction, the seven soldiers disclosed information that the army had burried disappeared civilians in mass graves and led the authorities to the locations of 25 clandestine graves in which more than 100 people seized and executed by the armed forces between 1996 and 1997 were buried.24 The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Sri Lanka was established in 1996. It has been accused by civil society groups and NGOs for not using its mandate fully to investigate and redress complaints of involuntary disappearances. The NHRC appointed a committee to probe into some disappearances in Jaffna province, but the status and progress of the investigations of these disappearances is unknown. In October 2005, the headquarters of the NHRC was attacked by unknown arsonists, which led to the destruction of many important files containing evidence of human rights abuses.25 Previous to this event, the NHRC’s investigations had focused on human rights violations committed by the LTTE and law enforcement officers in Sri Lanka rather than the military. Since 2000, a further 12 cases of disappearances were taken to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) out of which seven cases

For information on the Presidential Commissions on Disappearances in Sri Lanka, see Asian Legal Resource Centre’s (ALRC) “Civil and Political Rights, including the Questions of Disappearances and Summary Executions”, E/CN.4/2003/NGO/147, which was submitted to the 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights of the Economic and Social Council of the UN, 12 March 2003. The online link is at http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/ E.CN.4.2003.NGO.147.En?Opendocument. 23

These cases are mentioned in Human Rights Watch’s “Asia Overview: Sri Lanka” in World Report 2000, at http://www.hrw.org/wr2k/Asia-08.htm. 24

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Sri Lanka”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41744.htm. 25

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Women, wives and mothers of the disappeared, struggle tirelessly to trace the missing and seek justice. Her task of seeking help from various groups--neighbors, police, military, legislators, God, justice system, non-state armed groups, human rights organizations, and the press--however could lead to a frustrating lack of results. Source: Movement for Inter-racial Justice and Equality (Sri Lankan NGO)

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are still to be investigated by that body.26 Sri Lanka has not enacted a specific law to make enforced and involuntary disappearance a separate offence. The OPFMD along with other NGOs and civil society groups have been campaigning to establish national laws within Sri Lanka which would designate disappearance a crime. The Government of Sri Lanka has accepted some level of responsibility for the staggering number of disappeared civilians by agreeing to provide compensation to the families of 17,735 victims of involuntary forced disappearances out of 22,000 families that applied.27 The maximum amount that a family could collect is US$500. However, many families of the disappeared are unaware of this compensation scheme, while others are reluctant to come forward due to the fear of retaliation from the perpetrators. A major impediment for the families in collecting compensation is that a death certificate for the disappeared is required for eligibility,28 which has excluded large numbers of people who remain hopeful that the missing will reappear or who find it emotionally impossible to declare them dead without knowing the fate of their loved ones. Moreover, the OPFMD points out that the missing who reappear after being released from arbitrary detentions are not eligible for compensation even if they have been tortured while in custody of police or security forces.

U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Sri Lanka”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41744.htm. 26

See Champika Liyanaarrachchi’s “52,800 Missing: Sri Lanka has no Answers”. OneWorld South Asia, 11 December 2003, at http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/75001/1/. 27

See Human Rights Watch’s “Asia Overview: Sri Lanka” in World Report 2000, at http://www. hrw.org./wr2k/Asia-08.htm.

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34 Justice Disappeared

KASHMIR (Indian controlled sector) The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Kashmir is a disputed territory according to the United Nations. The status of the territory has been a source of conflict between Pakistan and India since partition in 1947. This report focuses on the situation of politically-motivated disappearances in Indian controlled Kashmir, within Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)state. J&K is a special autonomy zone under the provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.29 However, the level of autonomy in J&K remains ambiguous and there are ongoing demands and struggles for greater autonomy or sovereignty. The Indian Army has maintained an overwhelming presence in J&K for decades. Demands from local political parties, separatist groups and residents for an independent Kashmir became more pronounced after 1989 when armed attacks by both Kashmiri and foreign militants against the Indian Army and state escalated. Counter insurgency actions by the Indian Army saturated the state with a half million troops leading to a defacto occupation of Indian controlled areas of Kashmir and widespread human rights abuses, including disappearances. J&K is estimated to have between 8,000 to 10,000 cases of politically-motivated disappearances since the start of the armed conflict in 1989.30 After immense popular pressure and demands for accurate and impartial figure on disappearances, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rehman Veeri, admitted in the legislative assembly in 2003 that 3,931 persons had gone missing between 1990 and 2003. All had been taken into custody by state authorities.31 Despite this admission, the fate and whereabouts of the 3,931 missing persons has not been disclosed. The highest number of the 3,931 disappearances admitted to by the Minister fall in the two districts nearest to Pakistani controlled Kashmir—Kupwara District (761) and Baramulla District (852). 32

See Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia’s “Jammu and Kashmir”, 13 May 2006, at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_and_Kashmir. 29

See Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons’ (APDP) “Appeal”, in AFAD’s website under “Statements of AFAD” in Issues, at http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html. Also see Parvez Imroz’s “Kashmir: The disappeared in Kashmir”, Asian Human Rights Commission, 17 April 2003, at http://www.ahrck.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/429/. 30

Naseer Ahmad’s “3931 disappeared in Kashmir since 1990”, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 22 June 2003, at http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/gkreport.html. 31

32 See Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons’ (APDP) “Enforced disappearances after installation of new government” in the Statistics section of Asian Federation Against Disappearances’ (AFAD) website at http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html.

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Non-combatant Kashmiris account for the majority of the victims of custodial disappearances according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.33 When the Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD) undertook a mission to Kashmir in October 2003, AFAD discovered that all disappearance victims are males who disappeared after detention on suspicion of membership in militant organizations, despite the fact that most missing persons had no known prior political affiliations. AFAD points out that the missing men mostly came from poor families, were often the main or only earning members of their households and their disappearances have placed great economic burden on their families who already suffer the loss of their loved ones. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir states that 99% of the disappeared are civilian Muslim males who were randomly arrested by the Indian Army for interrogation because the Army perceives them to be sympathetic towards the struggles for an independent J&K. Arrestees disappear after being held captive for long periods of times in interrogation centers and transit camps that were only designated for short-time confinements. The APDP believes only 1-2% of the missing arrestees have been combatants who belong to the militant insurgent groups. The APDP further notes that most men who were arbitrarily arrested were bearded and fell under the age group of 20-35 years old. The Indian armed forces and police have been identified to be the main perpetrators of disappearances and have seized most of the people in the middle of the night from the victims’ homes. The insurgent armed groups within Kashmir have also been accused of disappearances after abductions or hostage-takings. There have been some reports of murder of security forces personnel and Kashmiri civilians after being kidnapped by insurgent groups.34 In a few cases, the families of the missing could not confirm whether the perpetrators of disappearances were members of the Indian military or the militant insurgent groups. Disappearances while under the custody of the security forces and the police have been a common trend in J&K since 1989. Farooq Abdullah, who was a former chief minister of J&K, failed to reduce widespread custodial disappearances. The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in J&K condemned the subsequent chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, for exacerbating the problems of custodial disappearances and downplaying the numbers of disappearances that have occurred. In a statement on the Day of the Disappeared, 30 August 2003, the APDP revealed that 84 disappearance incidents had been reported in the 9 months after Sayeed’s government

See Parvez Imroz’s “Kashmir: The disappeared in Kashmir”, Asian Human Rights Commission, 17 April 2003, at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/429/. 33

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: India”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. 34

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came into power in November 2002.35 Chief Minister Sayeed publicly maintained that only 60 disappearances had taken place since 1990, which was starkly inconsistent with the disappearance figures in the thousands that were declared previously by other state officials.36 Denial and inconsistent statements make accurate data-collection on disappearances difficult in J&K, and reflect the government’s refusal to acknowledge the dire human rights situation in the Kashmir valley and shows their insincerity in redressing the problem of enforced disappearances.

Illicit Use of Firearms The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), an AFAD member, is an organization of families in J&K whose members whereabouts are unknown. APDP has stated frequent presence and use of arms in disappearance incidents. The APDP could not list any event in which firearms were not used by the perpetrators to commit disappearance crimes. According to eyewitness accounts and testimonies, firearms were used by the offenders to intimidate and coerce the victims and their families to comply during arbitrary arrests and/or abductions that often took place suddenly in the middle of the night at the arrestees’/abductees’ home after which they were disappeared. The APDP identifies the perpetrators of forced disappearances to be members of the Indian armed forces, the police, contra-militants or renegades, special operations group that controls the J&K State as well as the CRPF/Border police who are under the J&K state police. The state security and law enforcement forces are usually heavily armed. The arms and weapons commonly carried by the military and security forces are AK-47, .32 pistols, grenades, and heavier weapons. Exhumation activities are not allowed by the state government of Kashmir. Therefore, missing persons who may have been extra-judicially killed and buried in clandestine graves have never been exhumed. Accordingly, the evidence of firearm use in disappearance crimes has not been confirmed through exhumation processes or forensic analysis of the bodies of the disappeared. Also, the bodies of the prisoners who die under the custody of security forces and law enforcement officers are usually not handed

See Association of Parent of Disappeared Persons’ “International day of disappeared persons” statement, APDP, 30 August 2003, at http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84.html. Also see Naseer A. Ganai’s “84 persons disappeared in Mufti’s reign: APDP”, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 18 August 2003, at http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84. html. 35

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 37

over to the victims’ families and are often cremated by prison authorities.37 Thereby, bullet wounds and signs of torture on the executed victim’s body, which would reveal the illicit use of guns and other severe human rights abuses by the perpetrators, are erased. Presence of arms in the hands of the military and police forces is widespread and prevalent in the J&K valley. During a mission by Nonviolence International Southeast Asia to Kashmir in 2006, an overwhelming presence of Indian Army personnel was seen everywhere, a look and feel of a militarily occupied country. An atmosphere of tension and decay attributable to armed conflict is apparent. Kashmiris live in highly a militarized environment aggravated by widespread poverty. Military vehicles are on frequent patrol throughout the valley.

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Due to popular pressure and condemnation from the families of the arrestees/detainees who have gone missing, the government set up Screening Committees, which are supposed to release information on family requests regarding the whereabouts of persons under custody of security forces. There continue to be numerous complaints that prison authorities only disclose detainee information in exchange for bribes.38 In February and October of 2005, a total of 78 prisoners whose whereabouts were previously unknown and were alleged to be insurgents were released from prisons..39 The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, has the authority to investigate and recommend policy changes and penalties as well as compensations for victims and their families who have suffered human rights violations by police or other state authorities. In May 2002, the NHRC requested the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir for details on measures being taken by J&K State authorities to record, investigate and prevent incidents of custodial disappearances. The Commission recommended compensation be granted to families of 719 missing individuals. Families of 61 disappeared persons were compensated. No further action on this recommendation is known to have followed.40

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: India”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov./g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. 37

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: India”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov./g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. 38

The release of these detainees are indicated in the U.S. Department of States “South Asia: India”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state. gov./g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. 39

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: India”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2003, 25 February 2004, at http://www.state.gov./g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. 40

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The Jammu & Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), was established in 1997. The J&K SHRC faces severe limitations making recording or investigating disappearance cases difficult due to insufficient funding and a lack of resources and autonomy. The SHRC is heavily dependent on central government-funding and must make separate requests for the most basic facilities and activities.41 The J&K SHRC lacks the authority to appoint its own staff as the Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA) transferred this authority to the state government in 200242, while also prohibiting the J&K SHRC from undertaking independent investigations of allegations of abuses committed by the Indian armed forces.43 J&K authorities, including the police, hesitate to file formal complaints against the Indian military as in most cases the procedures can be very time-consuming and expensive.44 The J&K SHRC can recommend compensations, such as ex-gratia relief, to be granted to the missing victims’ family members if it can be proven that the disappeared had never been involved in the insurgency. Relatives must obtain a certificate from the police confirming that the missing individuals never participated in any insurgent activities. However, the J&K SHRC can only recommend ex-gratia relief, the granting of which the State authorities have no legal obligations to follow. So far, none of the J&K SHRC’s recommendations for compensation are known to have been implemented.45 During the 2002 elections in J&K State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) promised to adopt the Common Minimum Program (CMP) to investigate the human rights situation in J&K, to bring perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice and to end arbitrary arrests, custodial disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other ongoing human rights violations.46 However, after November 2002 when the PDP came into power under Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, cases of human rights abuses were rarely in-

See South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre’s “J&K State Human Rights Commission: The healing can began here”, HRF/27/05, Human Rights Features, 28 September 2005, at http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF127.htm. 41

See South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre’s “J&K State Human Rights Commission: The healing can begin here”, HRF/27/05, Human Rights Features, 28 September 2005, at http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF127.htm. 42

See Amnesty International’s “India: Open letter to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on the failed promises on the Common Minimum Program”, ASA/20/033/2003, 2 December 2003, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA200332003?open&of=ENG-333. 43

See Parvez Imroz’s “State Repression: Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in Kashmir”, Combat Law, Vol. 1 Issue 4, October-November 2002, at http://www.combatlaw.org/information. php?article_id=125&issue_id=4. 44

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vestigated or reported. On the contrary, the human rights situation became even worse with increased rates of disappearances47 fostering a climate of legal impunity. The role of human rights institutions was undermined when the PDP state government did not reply to the Indian NHRC’s request to report on their progress in addressing and preventing the practices of involuntary disappearances.48 So far, no perpetrators of disappearances in J&K have been brought to justice. Disappearances remain under-reported in Jammu and Kashmir as family members of the missing are often afraid to officially report or openly inquire about the disappearances of their loved ones out of fear of retaliation from the perpetrators. Hostility, intimidation, arrests, and executions of J&K residents who have filed official inquiries into the whereabouts of their disappeared relatives have been reported.49 The APDP along with other relatives of the disappeared have organized hunger strikes, peaceful demonstrations and signature campaigns in their continual efforts to find out the truth about their loved ones. On 20 March 2004, the police used batons to attack a vigil by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in Srinagar, after which it arrested 28 of its officers and members.50 Authorities had previously destroyed a memorial to the disappeared, set up by the families to commemorate the memory of their loved ones. Violent responses to requests for information or peaceful protest when answers are not forthcoming create and reinforce a climate of fear and frustration among society and further discourages complaints, inquiries and/or investigations of disappearance cases. Redress or any scope for healing for the victims’ families are further hampered when the state authorities continue to systematically conceal the truth about the missing victims.

See Naseer A. Ganai’s “84 persons disappeared in Mufti’s reign: APDP”, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 18 August 2003, at http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84. html. Also see Amnesty International’s “India: Open letter to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on the failed promises on the Common Minimum Program”, ASA/20/033/2003, 2 December 2003, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA200332003?open&of=ENG-333. 47

Naseer A. Ganai’s “84 persons disappeared in Mufti’s reign: APDP”, Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 18 August 2003, at http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84. html. 48

See Amnesty International’s “India: If they are dead, tell us – ‘Disappearances’ in Jammu and Kashmir”, ASA/20/002/1999, 2 March 1999, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA2 00021999?open&of=ENG-2S4. 49

See AFAD’s “Statement of condemnation on the brutal arrest of APDP officers and members”, in “Statements of AFAD” under Issues, 22 March 2004, at http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/ home.html. 50

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The Plight of

“Half-Widows” in Kashmir After the disappearance of a family member in Kashmir, remaining females in the household end up bearing most burdens and are often subjected to additional discrimination and victimization in other areas of their lives. The wives of missing Kashmiri men are regarded as “half-widows” and invisible victims in India’s war against separatists in Kashmir.51 The overwhelming majority of disappeared persons in Kashmir are males from poor families who lack knowledge of their legal rights. The disappeared are often the main or only income providers in their households, solely responsible for financially supporting wives, children, and frequently parents. After disappearances, the financial situation becomes very dire for the households. The wife of a missing Kashmiri man becomes a “half widow” facing extreme financial hardships and difficulties in sustaining herself and her children. There have been reports of half-widows facing domestic abuse in their in-laws’ homes where they are perceived to be an additional burden on the family.52 Some return to their parents’ homes, and others who are without parents become homeless after they are forced out of their in-laws’ homes. This places the half-widows in greater physical and economic insecurity. The majority of the half-widows are illiterate and are only able to find lowpaying jobs for sustenance.53 In this context, it becomes common for the family unit to

See Dilip Ganguli’s “Worst sufferers in Kashmir are ‘half-widows’, says human rights group”, AP Worldstream, 30 January 2004, at http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0. asp?DOCID=1P1:90213837&ctrInfo=Round19%3AMode19a%3ADocG%3APrint&ao=& print=yes. 51

See “Without trace” in PeaceWomen – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 30 April 2005, at http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Kashmir/April05/windows.html. 52

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disintegrate as the half-widows sometimes cannot afford to look after their children and they may get sent to live with other relatives or at an orphanage.54 Some children are forced to engage in child labor out of necessity.55 Other than the government-initiated compensation schemes which very few households have received, there is no safety net for the half-widows or other relatives of the disappeared. In addition to poverty, half-widows face social stigma especially when it comes to remarriage. It is rare for half-widows to remarry as it is a social taboo and they are often afraid of being ostracized by their communities if they marry again. Many would not remarry because they do not know if their husbands are alive or dead, and most remain hopeful that their husbands will return one day. A missing person can only be officially declared dead seven years after their disappearance,56 hence, the wives of the disappeared remain under the legal status of “half-widows” for seven years which makes the legality of remarriage unclear. Under Islamic law, there are disputes among scholars about when and if a half-widow can remarry.57 In Kashmir, half-widows and other family members of the missing can suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. There are no government-funded programs to help them cope with trauma. Half widows are afflicted with a combination of economic insecurity and bureaucratic problems of their legal status, possible physical and psychological problems all in an environment where they are prone to being further victimized and discriminated against.

See “Without trace” in PeaceWomen – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 30 April 2005, at http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Kashmir/April05/windows.html. 54

See Ravinderjeet Kaur’s “Half widows of Kashmir”, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, 24 December 2004, at http://www.ipcs.org/Kashmir_articles2.jsp?action=showView&kVal ue=1613&issue=1012&status=article&mod=a. Also see “Without trace” in PeaceWomen – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 30 April 2005, at http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Kashmir/April05/windows.html. 57

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44 Justice Disappeared

PAKISTAN The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Reports of enforced and involuntary disappearances have increased in recent years in Pakistan, particularly in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces where there are both unsettled grievances against the central government and a significant and increasing presence of the Pakistani military and other security forces. In the Sindh province, more than 30 individuals have been reported missing after arbitrary arrests by law enforcement officers.58 Unknown numbers have disappeared in Balochistan after arbitrary or illegal arrests. The federal minister of Pakistan stated that about 4,000 civilians in Balochistan have been arrested59, but the whereabouts of many arrestees has not been disclosed. Authorities have denied they are holding some of these arrestees in custody despite eyewitness accounts of their detention. In some cases, witnesses of arbitrary or illegal arrests have reported receiving death threats meant to intimidate them from testifying. Arrestees face greater risk of being disappeared if relatives and others are intimidated from pursuing information about them. Natural resource exploitation by the central government along with a lack of provincial development have been at the core of Sindhi and Balochi grievances toward Islamabad. The Pakistani military forces have been accused of forcefully confiscating land in the Sindh and reducing the supply of water. Locals allege discrimination from the government when it comes to employment opportunities while not benefiting from the province’s revenue.60 In Balochistan, the central government has been criticized for exploiting its natural resources, such as oil, while sharing very little of the revenue in the province. Military presence has increased in Balochistan since 2001 with reports

The recent incidents of disappearances in both Sindh and Balochistan are illustrated in the Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Pakistan: Protests against disappearances deserve public support”, AS-087-2006, 27 April 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/ 513/?print=yes. 58

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Pakistan: Protests against disappearances deserve public support”, AS-087-2006, 27 April 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile. php/2006statements/513/?print=yes. 59

The supply of water has been reduced to 11% from 23%, and the Sindh province only receives 19% of the revenue even though it produces 72% of the country’s total revenue according to Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Pakistan: Protests against disappearances deserve public support”, AS-087-2006, 27 April 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/ 513/?print=yes. 60

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of extra-judicial arrests and detentions of civilians who have opposed or have been perceived to be in opposition to Islamabad.61 In other parts of Pakistan, reports of enforced and involuntary disappearances committed by security forces and law enforcement officers have occurred since the Pakistani government took an active role in the US war on terror. Individuals are alleged to disappear during abductions by Pakistani security forces, under the direction of American officials as a part of the extraordinary rendition program. Under this program, terrorism suspects have been abducted to US military bases or to countries with poor human rights record or a history of torture. The suspects are not provided with lawyers and many of their families are not told of their whereabouts.62 Non-Pakistanis have been arrested and detained during anti-terrorism operations in Pakistan and authorities have declined to reveal the locations of detention. On 14 June 2004, a British and a Dutch citizen were seized by Pakistani security forces on allegation of Al-Qaeda links, after which the authorities refused to disclose the place of detention despite a Pakistani High Court Petitions filed by their families.63 The Dutch national reappeared after having been released in January 2005, but the whereabouts of the British arrestee is still unknown.64 Similarly, another 2 U.S. citizens of Pakistani origin, Zain Afzal and Kashan Afzal, were seized by Pakistani intelligence agents after being questioned at gunpoint during a raid in their homes late at night on 13 August 2004. For the following year, their whereabouts remained unknown as they were detained extra-legally in undisclosed detention facilities. They reappeared after having been released without any charges on 22 April 2005. In media interviews after their release, they revealed having been tortured by their Pakistani captors during the detention and interrogated by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents. The detainees also pointed out that they repeatedly complained to the FBI agents about having been tortured by their Pakistani captors, but no action was taken against the Pakistani prison authorities.65 The American-led “war on terror”, has provided a framework for suppression of internal dissent over anti-democratic practices of the Pakistani military regime. Accusa-

Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Pakistan: Protests against disappearances deserve public support”, AS-087-2006, 27 April 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/ 2006statements/513/?print=yes. 61

“Outsourcing Torture: the secret history of America’s ‘extraordinary rendition program’,” Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, February 14, 2005.

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Pakistan”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41743.htm. 63

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Pakistan”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61710.htm. 64

See Human Rights Watch’s “Pakistan: U.S. citizens tortured, held illegally”, Human Rights News, 24 May 2005, at http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/24/pakist11005.htm. 65

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tions of affiliation with terrorist groups gave grounds for disappearance after arrest or abduction by law enforcement agencies operating under anti-terrorist mandates. In December 2005, journalist Hayatullah Khan was abducted by 5 masked armed men while he was on his way to report about a popular protest against alleged US missile attack in the North Waziristan region.66 The abduction team is suspected to be part of the Pakistani security forces accordKhalid Khawaja, a Pakistani activist, has disappeared twice. He was first abducted in ing to some local civilians, journalists, January 2007, produced in court the next and Khan’s relatives. Pakistan never day and subsequently imprisoned. Due for confirmed keeping him under custody, release on 23 February, he was illegally taken from jail on orders of higher authoriyet at one point reported to have transties. His family late received information that ferred the journalist to U.S. custody.67 he was kept in a military prison used by intelHis fate and whereabouts remain unligence agencies. known. Prior to his disappearance, Source: news.bbc.co.uk and cageprisoners.com. Photo: AP. Khan reported having received a series of death threats from anonymous sources for several months meant to dissuade him from reporting about about the impact of the state’s anti-terrorist activities on the tribal areas of Pakistan. Pakistani authorities have restricted journalists from reporting in those areas in the past. Khan was previously arrested and interrogated by U.S. and U.K. security forces on terrorism charges in July 2002 in Afghanistan, when he tried to interview guards at an American camp. After his release in July 2003, he was rearrested and interrogated by Pakistani paramilitary forces under accusations of being an informer for the American military.68 There have been other high profile missing victims, like Hayatullah Khan, in Pakistan who are lawyers, journalists and human rights activists that enquired and publicly raised questions about the security policies and practices of the country’s military government. No official figures on disappearances exists in Pakistan. People have gone missing in

See Amnesty International’s “Pakistan: Possible ‘disappearance’/fear for safety: Hayatullah Khan (m), journalist”, Urgent Action, ASA/33/030/2005, 8 December 2005, at http://t2web. amnesty.r3h.net/library/Index/ENGASA330302005?open&of=ENG-344. 66

See Amnesty International’s “Pakistan: Further information on possible ‘disappearance’/fear for safety: Hayatullah Khan (m), journalist”, Urgent Action, ASA/33/009/2006, 4 April 2006, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA330092006?open&of=ENG-344. 67

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various regions of the country, each with different political and security problems. The Truth and Justice Commission, a human rights NGO in Pakistan, has registered 245 cases of disappearances most of which occurred along the Line of Control(LoC) area dividing the Pakistani and Indian controlled sections of Kashmir69, as well as in refugee camps from the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Punjab provinces in Pakistan.

Illicit Use of Firearms The presence and/or use of firearms in committing disappearance crimes through arbitrary and illegal arrests and abductions in Pakistan have been verified by witnesses and passersby who were present during incidents. At the disappearance of Hayatullah Khan his brother was with him in the car when they were stopped on the road by 5 armed men who wore masks to hide their faces. His brother reported that Khan was forced out of his car by the masked men at gunpoint and then pulled into another vehicle and driven away.70 Khan’s abduction typifies the role of firearms in an abduction to intimidate the victim into compliance. It is alleged that Khan was disappeared in order to halt further investigation and reporting about U.S. involvement in the region, particularly the U.S. military’s role in the missile attack on 1 December 2005 in the village of Haisori in North Waziristan of Pakistan. Six persons were reportedly killed by the missile. Evidence found at the site indicated the missile was of U.S. military origin. Khan previously reported that shrapnel printed with “AGM-114”, “guided missile” and “US” was found. It is believed to have been fired from, a remote-controlled Predator aircraft.71 Khan was last reported being under custody of U.S. authorities, but the country where he is being detained has not been revealed.72 After their release, two U.S. citizens, Zain Afzal and Kashan Afzal (mentioned above), stated that they were interrogated at gunpoint by armed men during the late night raid in their homes. After interrogation they were blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed

See Asian Federation Against Disappearances’ (AFAD) “The Truth and Justice Commission – Pakistan”, in the Membership Profiles section of AFAD’s website at http://www.afad-online.org/ afadweb/home.html. 69

See Amnesty International’s “Pakistan: Possible ‘disappearance’/fear for safety: Hayatullah Khan (m), journalist”, Urgent Action, ASA/33/030/2005, 8 December 2005, at http://t2web.amnesty.r3h.net/library/Index/ENGASA330302005?open&of=ENG-344. AGM 114 is the designation for Hellfire, air-to-surface missiles manufactured in the United States. 71

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detention facility where they were tortured by prison authorities and interrogated by U.S. intelligence agents.73 The coercive abductions of Hayatullah Khan and the two brothers reflect common scenarios for disappearance incidents that have been documented by the Truth and Justice Commission in Pakistan. Generally, heavily armed agents forcefully abduct/arrest the victims from their homes or from the streets at gunpoint without any search warrants. The Truth and Justice Commission noted that during the time of the abductions/arrests, the victims are sometimes blindfolded and taken away in vehicles without license plates. It is common for the authorities to deny seizing an arrestee/ abductee even if there are eyewitness accounts of the incident. Some family members of the missing reported that they were both mentally and physically abused by intelligent agents and other law enforcement officers if they seek information about the fate or whereabouts of their disappeared relatives. In a statement given to the Asian Federation Against Disappearances, the Truth and Justice Commission states that disappearances are “executed with ruthless brutality and flawless methodology” in order to make it extremely difficult to track down the missing as well as to wipe out evidence of illegal deeds. Those who have reappeared after their abduction have reported that during their captivity they felt certain that they would be shot by the perpetrators and left to die in some isolated place. Missing persons who reappear often find that the

AFAD

Families of the disappeared attend a rehabilitation session in October 2006.

judicial system either lacks the capacity to bring the perpetrators of their abduction to justice or are just unwilling to do anything about it.

See Human Rights Watch’s “Pakistan: U.S. citizens tortured, held illegally”, Human Rights News, 24 May 2005, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/24/pakist11005.htm. 73

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Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Pakistan does not have any state-sponsored National Human Rights Commission. No government institution is officially tasked to respond to allegations of disappearances in the country. The main human rights NGO in Pakistan operates under the name of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). In March 2003, HRCP’s Sindh province coordinator, Akhtar Baloch, disappeared while under police custody, but reappeared later that year following public protests and demands for his release. HRCP has published an annual report on the human rights situation in Pakistan. In 2002 Baloch was involved in investigating cases of disappearances and extra-judicial killings through HRCP. Baloch’s disappearance is a reflection of how the security forces are often willing to take illegal measures to discourage and stop investigations and reports on human rights attrocities in the country.74 Arbitrary arrest and detention are illegal in Pakistan. Nonetheless, police, intelligence and security forces regularly carry out extra-legal arrests and detentions in clandestine prisons under the cover of anti-terrorism measures, while refusing to release information about the conditions or detention of the detainees. The current regime has established special anti-terrorism courts, which are separate from the regular Pakistani judicial system. These courts are of dubious legal stature. Forced confessions are allowed under the Anti-Terrorist Act which also enables the security forces to enter and search properties as well as seize items from properties without an official warrant.75 Ambiguous and undemocratic legal procedures under the Anti-Terrorist Act not only make the arrestees and abductees susceptible to disappearing, but also foster impunity for those who are responsible for forced disappearances. Furthermore, refusal by government authorities to reveal the whereabouts of the arrestees/abductees imprisoned under counter-terrorism or national security measures contravenes international law as well as the national judicial system under which state agents are obliged to disclose the whereabouts of the detainees. Currently, there are no known cases of perpetrators of disappearances having been prosecuted in any Pakistani court.

See BBC News’ “Call for release of Pakistan rights activist”, World: South Asia, 25 March 2003, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2883669.stm. 74

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Pakistan”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61710.htm. 75

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NEPAL The Disappeared and their Perpetrators In 2005, Nepal had more cases filed with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) than any other country. The total number of disappearances is not known, but from 1996, when the armed conflict began between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), until 2005 some 17,963 persons were reported to have disappeared. 76 Disappearances were perpetrated by both state agents and the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA, the armed wing of the CPN-M). After 2003, the Armed Police Force (AFP), the Nepal Police and the National Investigation Department officially joined forces with the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) for coordinated counter-insurgency activities.77 The Security forces are alleged to have carried out disappearances and obstructed investigations of human rights violations. Of 1,430 incidents of disappearances recorded by Amnesty International between 2001 and 2004 in Nepal, the security forces are held responsible for more than 1,000.78 The PLA/CPN-M has also been linked to large-scale disappearances in mass abductions of civilians, many of whom are children. A much higher number of disappearances attributed to the Maoists was published by the US State Department, which alleged that in 2005 alone the Maoists abducted 46,974 individuals and disappeared 8,715 persons.79 The CPN-M mostly recruited rural poor from areas under their control who were instructed in guerilla warfare activities. The CPN-M were known to conscript large numbers of child soldiers for military activities by forcefully seizing children from different villages.80 Moreover the CPN-M was known to finance the insurgency partly by abducting civilians for ransom.

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Nepal”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41742.htm. 76

See Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 77

See Charles Haviland’s “Alarm over Nepal disappearances”, South Asia, BBC News, 30 August 2004, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/611204.stm. 78

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Nepal”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61709.htm. 79

See GlobalSecurity.org’s “United People’s Front, Peoples’ War Group (PWG) Nepal, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)”, World: Para-military Groups, 27 April 2005, at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/upf.htm. 80

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Until the 2006 ceasefire, Nepal went through several periods of emergency law. Declaration of a state of emergency exacerbated instability within the country, during which fundamental rights were suspended while media coverage of the conflict was simultaneously restricted. The political and security conditions further deteriorated once King Gyanendra dissolved the parliament and dismissed the government in October 2002. In response to popular protest and opposition, the King ordered thousands of arrests. Detainees were sent to unknown locations.81 In February 2005, the King unilaterally imposed a state of emergency in the country82 and reestablished a de-facto monarchy in Nepal until popular dissent forced him to re-instate Parliament in 2006. In 2005, the then Prime Minister and members of his government, along with the leaders and members of other political parties in Nepal, were placed under house arrest and subsequently went missing. The media was prohibited from covering the situation and there were reports of local and foreign journalists being arrested and disappearing for reporting on conditions in Nepal.83 Authorities under the de facto monarchy often simply refused to register disappearance complaints and denied any occurrences of disappearances under their custody. The family members of those who disappeared under the custody of State agents also hesitated to officially place a disappearance complaint about their relatives84 out of fear of possible retaliation by the perpetrators and to prevent themselves from becoming a target of disappearances themselves. The majority of disappearance incidents were reported in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Dhading and Dhanusha, all in the central part of Nepal.85 The target sectors of disappear-

See Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 81

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal: A forgotten emergency – An appeal to de-recognize the dictatorial regime”, Statement by the Defend Human Rights Movement in Nepal, FS-02-2005, 22 September 2005, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/ 2005statements/350. 82

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal’s Royal Coup”, Overview of the Coup, at http:// nepal.ahrchk.net/nepals_royal_coup.htm. 83

Several sources have pointed out that the families of the missing rarely place an official complaint about the disappearances of their relatives. See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal: Petition to urge His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the opposing Maoist groups to STOP disappearances in Nepal”, at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/nepal/. Also, see Asian Legal Resource Centre’s “Enforced disappearances and zero rule of law in Nepal”, E/CN.4/2005/NG0/35, ALRC Statement submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights, 31 March 2005, at http://www. alrc.net/pr/mainfile.php/2005pr/76/. 84

Most disappearances have been reported from these central districts in Nepal either because the security forces have more control over these areas or that the human rights groups are more accessible in the central part of the country according to Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web. amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 85

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ances included students, farmers, journalists, activists, teachers, entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and those suspected of having any affiliations with the Maoists.86 Disappearance victims in Nepal include women, children and youth.

INSN

Families of the disappeared set up Rajya Dwara Bepatta Pariyeko Pariwar Samaj (Society of Families of Missing Persons by the State), A government official assures family members of which is leading a campaign to help disappeared citizens that a report on whereabouts of all those who disappeared followthe alleged disappeared persons will be released. ing detention inside police stations and army barracks. On the 29 of December 2006, hundreds of families forced a press conference inside the National Human Rights Commission office, calling on the government to reveal the whereabouts of their relatives.87

Illicit Use of Firearms In Nepal, it has been very common for both the State security forces and the Maoist rebels to carry arms with them, especially during arrests/abductions of civilians from homes or from public places. During the royal coup on 1 February 2005, the security forces were ordered to assault unarmed student protestors in university campuses in Pokhara, in which tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at the students. The security forces arrested at least 58 students who were taken into army barracks,88 following which they were allegedly tortured and detained at other undisclosed locations from which some political prisoners disappeared. Heavily armed security forces are sometime alleged to wear civilian clothes when seizing individuals89 from their homes. In Nepal, the disappeared rarely reappear and most of them are believed to be ex-

See Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 86

87 ‘NEPAL: Families despair over missing relatives’, at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?Repor tID=51194&SelectRegion=Asia

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal’s Royal Coup”, Overview of the Coup, at http:// nepal.ahrchk.net/nepals_royal_coup.htm. 88

Examples of repeated arrests by security forces in plain clothes are in Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 89

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ecuted while under the custody of the state or after having been supposedly abducted by rebels.90 The corpses of missing victims have never been returned to their family members.91 No reports of forensic analysis have taken place to medically verify the illicit use of firearms in the extra-judicial killings of disappearance victims. There is a singular report of an exhumation carried by the National Human Rights Commission in which bodies of missing victims have been located. Until the 2006 ceasefire, the presence and use of arms in Nepal was a widespread and everyday phenomenon, with frequent occurances of extensive human rights crimes committed by both State and rebel forces. Nepal received arms, and military training through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF), Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs of the United States.92 Many Nepalese military personnel have attended U.S. military schools such as the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College for training through the IMET program.93 In addition, the U.S. has also involved Nepalese troops in their military operations in Somalia, Haiti and Iraq. Other countries that supply Nepal with military equipment and training assistance are the United Kingdom, China, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.94

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Nepal, formed in 1997, registered 1,340 disappearance claims from the time the Commission was established until late 2004.95 The NHRC lacks access to most military-controlled areas and detention facilities despite having a legal mandate to enter such areas. NHRC research teams were prevented by the military from entering Kapilvastu in February 2005 during the

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal: Petition to urge His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the opposing Maoist groups to STOP disappearances in Nepal”, at http://www.ahrchk. net/ua/nepal/. 90

See Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia’s “Military of Nepal”, 23 May 2006, at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Nepal. 93

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Nepal”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41742.htm. 95

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royal coup, where reports were made of government-induced mobs attacking people suspected of Maoist-affiliations.96 The royalist government later introduced an “area detention” policy which imposed travel restrictions on NHRC commissioners outside of the Kathmandu Valley.97 Illegal arrests and detentions continued to be carried out by the State in spite of condemnations from the NHRC as well as petitions and legal orders from the court. Amnesty International reported NHRC commissioners were denied entry at the Bhairabnath Gan army barrack which was illegally detaining captives, even though a series of habeas corpus petitions were filed along with orders from the Supreme Court to investigate and locate the whereabouts of the detainees. At the time, it was common for the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) to immediately re-arrest detainees who were released when legal orders from the court were received.98 Two Acts, the 2002 Terrorist and Destructive Activities (TADA) Act and the subsequent 2004 Terrorist and Destructive Activities Ordinance (TADO), provided legal cover for extended detentions of individuals without warrants and without the arrestees being presented before a court. Both TADA and TADO contravened previous constitutional provisions.99 Most disappearances of detainees occurred while detained under TADA/TADO. The imposition of TADA/TADO fostered a climate of absolute impunity enabling the State to carry out forced disappearances at a massive scale.100 Upon expiry of the act, TADA was not renewed. The NHRC was severely undermined during the changes made in national governance enforced by the monarchy when the prime minister and the parliament were dismissed after the king’s takeover. The king then changed the NHRC by appointing commissioners known to support the monarchy.101 Unbiased investigations of disappearance cases ceased and incidents of state-initiated mass disappearances went unregistered by police and other government officials “on the ground of lack of evidence and authority”.102

See Human Rights Watch’s “Nepal: King stifles Human Rights Commission”, Human Rights News, 25 May 2005, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/25/nepal11012.htm. 96

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s “Nepal’s Royal Coup”, Overview of the Coup, at http:// nepal.ahrchk.net/nepals_royal_coup.htm. 97

See Amnesty International’s “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”, ASA31/155/2004, 30 August 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGSA311552004. 98

See Human Rights Watch’s “Nepal: Terror law likely to boost ‘disappearances’”, Human Rights News, 26 October 2004, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/26/nepal9562.htm. 99

See Human Rights Watch’s “Nepal: Terror law likely to boost ‘disappearances’”, Human Rights News, 26 October 2004, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/26/nepal9562.htm. 100

See Human Rights Watch’s “Nepal: Terror law likely to boost ‘disappearances’”, Human Rights News, 26 October 2006, at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/26/nepal9562.htm. 101

See Asian Legal Resource Centre’s “Enforced disappearances and zero rule of law in Nepal”, E/CN.4/2005/NG0/35, ALRC Statement submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights, 31 March 2005, at http://www.alrc.net/pr/mainfile.php/2005pr/76/. 102

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A government established 5-member committee to investigate disappearances discovered the locations of 580 detainees whose whereabouts were previously undisclosed.103 With the re-establishment of parliament in May 2006, hope for normalization of the human rights situation in Nepal exists, but so far, no perpetrators of enforced and involuntary disappearances have been legally held accountable for the policies and practices of the very recent past.

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Nepal”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61709.htm. 103

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The Female Victims of Disappearances in Nepal The practice of disappearing girls and women has been pronounced in Nepal in recent years. There are many accounts of girls and women being seized at gunpoint by groups of heavily-armed men who are allegedly security forces. Many of the female victims of disappearances were reported to have been raped, severely tortured and subsequently killed in order to prevent them from exposing the perpetrators. Some of the women who have disappeared are as young as 13 years old. The fate and whereabouts of Kumari Damali and Kumari Nepali from Kailali district and Meera Adhikari from Nuwakot district remain unknown to their family members.104 Some young girls were disappeared after re-arrests by the State security forces on suspicion of Maoist affiliation. Radha Bhusal and Geeta Nepali, who were both 15 years old, disappeared under the custody of the security forces after repeated arrests in 2005.105 Their fate and whereabouts have not been confirmed by the police who deny their re-arrests. Maina Sunuwar, also 15, disappeared after being forcefully seized by the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) on 17 February 2004 when 15 army officers first came to her house for her mother who had witnessed a gang rape and executions of other civilians by the military.106 Maina Sunuwar’s family along with a large group of people from her village enquired about her whereabouts in different army barracks and police stations. But, the army and the police denied having any knowledge of her arrest and detention. Eyewitnesses saw 2 young girls being taken into the army camp on the same day she was seized. Another girl seen by the witnesses was abducted by the military after they asked her to show them Maina Sunuwar’s home. She was later able to report on tortures inflicted on her and Maina Sunuwar in the military barracks where they were blindfolded and tied to trees and repeatedly beaten by the RNA soldiers. Maina Sunuwar was later killed by electric shocks attached to her breasts while under the custody of the RNA. Her dead body was never returned to her family despite claims by the police that

See U.S. Department of States “South Asia: Nepal”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61709.htm. 105

106 See Asian Legal Resource Centre’s “Enforced disappearances and zero rule of law in Nepal”, E/CN.4/2005/NG0/35, ALRC Statement submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights, 31 March 2005, at http://www.alrc.net/pr/mainfile.php/2005pr/76/.

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her body was handed over to her parents. Maina Sunuwar’s family left the village thereafter and her mother continues to live in constant fear of the threat of being seized by the RNA and the emotional trauma over the loss of her daughter. Her daughter’s disappearance, torture and execution suggests that some human rights violations are systematically carried out by the security forces to silence witnesses from speaking out and seeking legal redresses. No legal actions have been taken against the perpetrators who killed Maina Sunuwar.

Maina Sunuwar, 15, was disappeared, tortured and died in custody of the Royal Nepal Army. Her family, supporters and various organizations continue to seek justice and keep her case in public attention to show the problem with the security situation.

In April 2006, the body of Sapana Gurung, who was detained by 3 security officers was found with evidence of gang-rape. She died from a shot in the chest.107 Her husband attempted to open a case of murder and rape against the military personnel responsible for her death, but so far there has not been any serious investigation of this incident and the First Information Report (FIR) required to proceed with legal action has not been registered.

War, official sanction for unacknowledged detention and an accompanying climate of impunity, leaves women and girls at great risk with little or no effort from the authorities to punish those who are responsible for such crimes under the national jurisdiction.

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) “Nepal: Morang-based security forces open fire at protesters killing six and injuring fifty following the gang-rape of a woman by security personnel”, Urgent Appeal, 18 May 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile. php/2006/1736. 107

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INDONESIA The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Between 1965 and 2005, 1,508 individuals were reported missing in Indonesia according to the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS).1 0 8 Enforced and involuntary disappearances took place both under Suharto’s military regime and under the subsequent Habibie interim government. The disappearance figure is likely to be much higher than the 1,508 that KontraS has managed to record as majority of disappearance incidents have occurred in military-controlled areas such as Aceh, Irian Jaya and previously in East Timor in the context of counter-insurgency operations in an attempt to thwart the demands and struggles for separate sovereign States, thus data may not always be fully available or transparent. There have been a series of specific events in Indonesia in which security forces reacted violently to suppress popular democratic aspirations. For example, independence activists were reported missing in Irian Jaya after raising the flag to an independent Papua in a nonviolent demonstration in the capital of the province in July 1998. The Indonesian military arbitrarily opened fire with live ammunitions to disperse the crowd.109 Eyewitness accounts claim that the disappeared individuals in Irian Jaya were taken away on a boat by the armed forces and later some of the bodies of the missing were discovered floating in the water. The authorities denied any complicity in the incident and attributed the deaths to a Tsunami which impacted the region. The bodies were buried immediately after discovery without autopsy or forensic analysis to verify the cause of death.1 1 0 Aceh, which is a special territory of Indonesia, has suffered from armed conflict since 1976 until the permanent ceasefire and disarmament agreement was signed in 2006. At least 700 persons disappeared throughout the conflict.1 1 1 The vast majority of the victims were civilians, who were seized by the military on suspicion of having connec-

See International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development’s (INFID) “Item: 11 b, Disappearances and Summary Executions”, Written statement by INFID, at http://www.kontras.org/data/ Item%2011b,%20Disappearances%20and%20Summary%20Executions.pdf. 108

109

The numbers of activists who disappeared in Irian Jaya could not be found.

See International Council on Human Rights Policy’s (ICHRP) Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions, 2nd edition, p. 32, 2004, at http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/102_ p_01.pdf. 110

The time period within which these disappearances took place are not indicated in Commission for Disapearances and Victims of Violence’s (KontraS) “The problem”, Speech on the 55 session UN Human Rights Commission, at http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. 111

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tions and/or knowledge about the separatist movement. In 2004, at least 51 persons were reported missing in Aceh112 whereas in 2005, a further 31 civilians and one member of the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM – also known as Free Aceh Movement) went missing.113 GAM was known to kidnap civilians for ransom and extortion of funds to sustain its insurgency. The number of disappearances which occurred during Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor remains unknown. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) estimates that 18,600 people were extra-judicially executed or disappeared between 1974 and 1999. CAVR points out that this figure includes both disappearances and extra-judicial executions because the distinctions between these two pre-meditated crimes were sometimes vague. Also, multiple testimonies about the same cases reveals that the disappeared were often killed after seizure. Most missing persons in East Timor were civilians who were seized by the Indonesian security forces. CAVR reveals that about 70% of the disappearances were perpetrated by East Timorese auxiliaries acting in behalf of the Indonesian security forces. Peak periods for disappearances and killings were between 1975-1979, 1983-1984 and 1999. CAVR also states that the East Timor resistance movement, Fretilin/Falintil, carried out some disappearances particularly in the early phase of the civil war between 1976 and 1978. Disappearances committed by Indonesian armed forces spanned from the beginning until the very end of the military occupation in East Timor with the aim of systematically weakening the struggle for independence by fostering a climate of fear.1 1 4 An event which gained international notoriety occurred during a funeral procession at the Santa Cruz cemetery in November 1991. At said event, student protestors were attacked by the Indonesian security forces and 653 persons were killed outright or injured in the attack while 250 disappeared. This incident was exposed worldwide by foreign journalists who were present at the scene and managed to record the atrocities on videotape generating widespread sympathy for the Timorese cause within the international community.115

See U.S. Department of States “East Asia and the Pacific: Indonesia”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61609. htm. 113

See Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor’s (CAVR) final report’s Chapter 7.2 “Unlawful killings and enforced disappearances”, p. 8, 20 January 2006, at http://www.ictj.org/static/Timor.CAVR.English/07.2_Unlawful_Killings_and_Enforced_Disappearances.pdf 114

See Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia’s “Dili massacre”, 25 May 2006, at http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Dili_massacre. 115

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Some of the disappeared in Indonesia have been combatant members of resistance/ insurgency movements, but the vast majority of the missing are civilians who were involved in nonviolent political activities, students, human rights activists or people alleged to have links and/or knowledge of the independence movements. Family members of the missing have faced threats meant to deter them from being vocal about the disappearances of their relatives and publicly exposing human rights violations committed by the State.116

Illicit Use of Firearms The Commission for the Disappeared Victims of Violence (KontraS) and the Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI), state that the main perpetrators of disappearances are identified to be the Indonesian armed forces and military intelligence agents. Disappearances take place as abductions in public places or from the victims’ homes during which the perpetrators arrive heavily armed. The perpetrators may wear civilian clothes in order to mask their identity. It is common for the perpetrators to threaten the victims with weapons during the abductions. Eyewitness accounts in many disappearance incidents have verified the presence and use of pistols at the crime scenes. A July 1998 pro-democracy demonstration was attacked by the Indonesian military in Irian Jaya. Many demonstrators disappeared and KontraS reported the recovery of Steyr bullets on the ground afterwards. In Aceh, a KontraS team discovered clandestine graves where bodies of missing individuals could be exhumed, but the sites have not yet been excavated and the identity of the bodies therein remain unknown. The local police denied any knowledge of these grave sites, but later changed their story and claimed to know about them once KontraS reported the discovery of the graves. Muchlis Ishak and Zulfikar, both student activists, were assisting the participation

See KontraS’ “The problem”, Speech on the 55 session UN Human Rights Commission, at http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. 116

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of displaced persons in Aceh in a nonviolent demonstration against the establishment of a mobile brigade office in the area held by people of Keude Dua Juli, Aceh, in front of Bireuen local government district office on 25 March 2003. On that day, 3 armed men in ci- Actual photo of vehicle and one of the abductors as they leave the vilian clothes ab- scene of abduction. Activists Muchlis and Zulfikar were forcibly taken ducted Muchlis and before the vehicle sped off. Zulfikar from the demonstration by pulling them by their collars into a vehicle. Witnesses identified the perpetrators as Special Armed Forces Intelligence (SGI). One was Sertu Karno who held a post in the Intelligence Collective Organization in Bireuen, Aceh. An NGO volunteer managed to capture some images of the abduction on camera which show the victims being taken to a Commando LDX with license plate number BL 406 or 408. Shapes that look like guns under the perpetratorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; clothes are visible in the photographs.The following day, an advocacy team from the Legal Aid Foundation in Aceh (LBH Aceh) reported the disappearances of Zulfikar and Muchlis to the secretariat of the Joint Security Council (JSC) which had foreign observers in it as part of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement then in effect. LBH also sent a team of lawyers, along with volunteers from Peace Brigades International, to further investigate the incident. KontraS submitted a report to the Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) district police and the chief of the Indonesian Police requesting them to inquire about the fate and whereabouts of the abducted individuals. Additionally, KontraS urged the military commander of Iskandar Muda, the special armed forces commanders and the Chief of District Police of NAD to release the two activists and refrain from using any forms of violence or torture against the abductees. The police department responded by stating that they have to coordinate their activities with the district military office in order to retrieve any information about the two missing activists. The Joint Security Council (JSC) in Bireun, Aceh said that they lacked the mandate to investigate and release captured individuals as the JSCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is only to monitor the implementation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement that was signed by the independent ACEH movement and the government of Indonesia. The fate and whereabouts of the missing activists was not disclosed, and the perpetrators responsible for their disappearances have not been brought to justice. Testimonies from abducted persons who later reappeared from undisclosed custody by

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security forces have frequently stated that firearms were used during disappearances and later used to subject the victims to intimidation and violence while incarcerated. A student activist, Nezar Patria, was abducted by the Indonesian security forces in March 1998 along with three others but survived to describe the experiences of the abduction.117 He and his three friends, Mugiyanto, Bimo Petrus and Aan Rusdianto, were all members of the Solidarity of Indonesian Students for Democracy (SMID) and living in the same house. Four heavily armed men in civilian clothes seized them at their home at gunpoint. Nezar Patria retells that when he resisted being removed from his home, the abductors threatened him with a semi-automatic gun and pointed a pistol towards his stomach to force him to comply. The other student activists were also seized at gunpoint and placed in a jeep with their faces covered. Music was played overly loud in the vehicle so they could not see or hear anything on their way to the destination. When they reached the unknown destination, they were imprisoned for two days and, most of the time, blindfolded. They were subjected to continuous interrogated and tortured by electrocution, repeated beatings, and shrill alarms in order to force confessions and information about SMID’s activities as well as the whereabouts of SMID members. Nezar Patria remembered hearing noises of heavy footsteps and marching boots that sounded like running exercises on military training, and believed they were most likely detained in a military base. After two days they were released and separately taken to another location where they were forced to sign their arrest warrants. Finally, they were ‘freed’ at the Metro Jaya Police station where they were again interrogated until they signed arrest warrants that accused them of committing the crime of subversion. Following this they were detained in isolation for another three months. The identity of their abductors remains unknown, and accordingly no legal actions have been taken against anyone responsible for disappearing and torturing Nezar Patria and the other three student activists. They never received any form of redress or compensation for having been abducted. On the contrary, they were further victimized by the police who treated them as criminals and imprisoned them for three months.

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Indonesia’s national human rights commission, Komnas HAM, was first formed under a Suharto presidential decree in response to international pressure after the 1991 Dili massacre in East Timor. The Commission was later reestablished under 1999 legislation.118

See KontraS’ “Testimony of a victim of the abduction of activists, Nezar Patria,” Testimonies, 7 June 1998, at http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. 117

See International Council on Human Rights Policy’s (ICHRP) Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions, 2nd edition, 2004, at http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/102_p_ 01.pdf. 118

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Komnas HAM has investigated only one disappearance case from the Dili massacre and confirmed that the Indonesian armed forces were involved in the massacre. The Commission’s involvement in the excavation of mass graves in Aceh in 1998 further exposed the human rights violations committed by the armed forces when the forensic reports revealed that the bodies were buried since the 1990s when Aceh was a military zone under martial law. Their findings contradicted the statements of the armed forces who initially claimed that the remains of the bodies were from the 1960s.119 In Irian Jaya, local NGO activists state that the Komnas HAM research team investigation into the incident of the 1998 demonstration lasted only a single day.120 In September 2005, Komnas HAM declared that the missing persons from the 1998 demonstration had been killed and that they will further investigate the roles of the suspected perpetrators in the extra-judicial killings of the 12 to 14 disappeared demonstrators that the Commission enquired about.121 The names of the suspects have yet to be publicly released by the Commission. The status of most disappearance complaints investigated by Komnas HAM is presently unknown. The majority of disappearance incidents that occurred in Aceh, Irian Jaya and previously in East Timor remain untouched and unresolved. The Indonesian government made very little progress in prosecuting the perpetrators of disappearances. In December 2002, 14 soldiers were convicted for abductions and extra-judicial killings in the Central Sulwesi regency of Poso. Some of the disappeared were found dead, while the fate of other missing individuals in the Central regency remains unknown. The soldiers who were found guilty of the crimes faced court-martials, and their penalties ranged from dishonorable discharge from the military to four years of imprisonment.122 The perpetrators’ identities have not been revealed by the authorities. In December 2005, police arrested the suspected perpetrator in the abduction and disappearance of Pentecostal minister, Jarok Ratu, in South Buru Island, Maluku province a year earlier.123 The name of the offender has not been made public.

See International Council on Human Rights Policy’s (ICHRP) Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions, 2nd edition, pp. 30, 21 and 26, 2004, at http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/102_p_01.pdf. 119

See U.S. Department of States “East Asia and the Pacific: Indonesia”, Country Reports of Human Rights Practices – 2004, 28 February 2005, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2004/41643.htm. 122

123

See U.S. Department of States “East Asia and the Pacific: Indonesia”, Country Reports of Hu-

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KontraS indicates that their public campaigns calling for legal actions against military personnel who are responsible for disappearance crimes have led to the prosecutions of several low-ranking military officers.124 However, KontraS reveals that legal loopholes prohibit prosecution because the military court claims only to have the power to convict military officers infractions of military discipline which do not include enforced and involuntary disappearances. Regular courts often lack the legal ability to prosecute perpetrators of disappearances from the military. Hence, a vast majority of the offenders from military institutions continue to enjoy full impunity and are rarely held legally accountable for systematically carrying out the practices of forced disappearances. Impunity combined with the strong involvement of the military in national politics enables politically-motivated disappearances to persist in Indonesia. The Indonesian military and security forces have used considerable powers of arrest to seize and interrogate anyone suspected of anti-State activities, including peaceful reform activists, member of independence and pro-democracy movements along with alleged terrorists. The government has established military zones at both the provincial and village level,125 which are frequently subjected to emergency regulations.126 The combination of militarized zones and emergency regulations provides the security forces with almost unchecked ability to arrest and detain anyone suspected of being involved in insurgency activities without the obligation to release information about the detainees’ fate and whereabouts. Accordingly, it is common for civilians who are seized by the Indonesian forces to disappear in an environment where legal protections for citizens are weak or non-existent.

man Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61609. htm. 124

The numbers of military personnel who have been legally prosecuted are not available.

See KontraS’ “The problem”, Speech on the 55 session UN Human Rights Commission, at http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. 125

See the Foundation of the Legal Assistance Institution’s “The military are ‘fishing in troubled waters’: Analysis of the ordinance planning for safety and security of the nation”, KontraS , August 1999, at http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. 126

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THAILAND The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Thailand has witnessed several specific historical instances of military suppression of popular democratic uprisings during which large numbers of civilians were killed or disappeared by state military forces. During the 14 October 1973 military attacks against student-led demonstrations calling for an end to arbitrary military rule and demanding a return to constitutional government led both to the exile of the ruling military Field Marshals and the deaths of 70 civilians and an unknown number of disappearances.127 Further disappearances followed when in October 1976 the army unleashed paramilitary forces which killed hundreds of students, after which the military suspended the constitution and resumed absolute power. The most recent instance of mass disappearances took place in May 1992 when the Thai military was deployed to suppress unarmed demonstrations calling for a return to democratic governance and condemning the rule of General Suchinda Krayprayon. General Krayprayon had seized power in a coup d’etat the previous year, after having overthrown the elected government. Between 17 to 20 May 1992, under the General’s command the military repression led to 52 civilian casualties,128 thousands under detention, and at least 298 disappeared.129 This event constitued the highest number of disappearances during a single event in Thai history. In-depth documentation and investigation of disappearances of May 1992 have been obstructed by the total refusal by the Thai military to cooperate. Until today, they refuse to disclose any information about the individuals who went missing while under their custody. There is a corresponding lack of cooperation from other government agencies to whom complaints about the missing citizens were submitted. The cases of all the disappeared individuals from May 1992 remain unresolved.

See Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia’s “History of Thailand since 1973”, 14 May 2006, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_since_1973. 127

See New Internationalist’s “Asian Tigers - The Facts”, Issue 263, January 1995, at http://www. newint.org/issue263/facts.htm. 128

This disappearance figure includes 38 missing persons as indicated by the Ministry of Interior in Thailand and 255 disappeared victims according to the Hotline Information Center that was set up by different NGOs. See Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes’ “Victims of May 1992 Massacre”, in the Statistics of Asian Federation Against Disappearances’ (AFAD) website at http:// www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html. 129

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Relatives of the disappeared, some of whom were present at the demonstration sites during the May 1992 demonstrations, described their missing relatives as student activists or young persons who were concerned about the volatile political situation at that time. Other missing victims at the event include civilians who went to the protest sites out of sheer curiosity and food vendors who were working in the area of the demonstrations. Sporadic disappearance of civil society leaders has been a constant threat for organizers of popular causes in different parts of Thailand. Union, farmers and other community organizers have disappeared over the years. No one has ever been found accountable for their disappearance. Since January 2004, long standing dissatisfaction in Thailand’s southern, ethnically Malay, provinces has led to a renewal of a violent insurgency against the Thai state. Disappearances in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces have increased, since the suspension of civil safeguards, the imposition of a state of emergency and accompanying counter-insurgency operations by the Thai military and the police. Instances of disappearance were made public by the government appointed National Reconciliation Commission (NRC). All were from the provinces experiencing emergency rule: ten from Pattani; seven from Narathiwat and six from Yala. The NRC stated that all 23 of the disappeared were men and between the ages of 20 and 50.130 In 2005, disappearances were alleged to exceed 50 with most missing victims being Muslim men who disappeared while under the custody of security forces.131 State authorities established a mandatory Reeducation/Peace-Building Programme for young men in the southern provinces, causing widespread fear in the south that those who are forced to enroll may be targets of disappearances. This fear was reinforced by the disappearance of Wae-halem Guwaegama in Narathiwat on 29 May 2006, a suspected insurgent who was required to attend an army camp that was part of the Reeducation/Peace-building programme. After the disappearance of Wae-

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) “Thailand: Alleged forced disappearance of man in Narathiwat, Urgent Appeal, UA-186-2006, 9 June 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/ mainfile.php/2006/1775/. 130

See U.S. Department of States “East Asia and the Pacific: Thailand”, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2005, 8 March 2006, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61628. htm. 131

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halem Guwaegama, some who took part in the programme allegedly left the village out of fear of being the next target.132 The number of people who have disappeared for political reasons in Thailand in recent years is likely to be much higher than the numbers indicated in this report so far. Proper investigation by an independent body remains impossible, especially in the southern parts of the country where threats and intimidation are frequently faced by civilians and human rights defenders who enquire about the fate and whereabouts of missing individuals. Many family members of the missing in the south are reluctant to place official complaints about the disappearances of their relatives out of fear of retaliation by the perpetrators for exposing the human rights situation in the region. There is no central database about the missing in Thailand to represent an accurate figure of disappearance incidents. The 300 unidentified bodies that were recently found in a cemetery in Pattani133 raised questions about the actual numbers of forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in the southern districts of the country. Unidentified corpses have also been located in the northwestern province of Tak where many displaced Burmese have sought refuge.134 Dr. Porntip Rojanansunan, the acting director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, is calling to exhume and use forensic analysis on the unidentified bodies. She believes that most of the corpses are likely to be of migrant workers from surrounding countries, while others may be Thais who disappeared after being extra-judicially executed by police or military personnel. The government has been unresponsive in taking steps to determine the identity of the dead or to pursue anyone responsible for these deaths.135 The disappearance of prominent Thai human rights lawyer, Somchai Neelaphaijit, has further generated fear, concern and outrage within the country and abroad. Somchai Neelaphaijit legally represented several Thai Muslims suspected of participation in insurgencies in the southern provinces. He was also involved in campaigns to lift martial law in the southern provinces. Attorney Neelaphaijit revealed that his clients

133

See Bangkok Post’s “Porntip to exhume 300 bodies to find ‘missing’”, 18 January 2006.

See Bhanravee Tansubhapol’s “Deep south/mystery graves, tackling the insurgency: Porntip to file report about bodies claim”, Bangkok Post, 9 June 2006, at http://www.bangkokpost. com/090606_News/09Jun2006_news14.php. 134

The government has also been accused of being in denial about the practices of systematic disappearances in counter insurgency operations by the Thai military and the police. See Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) “Thailand: Steps to acknowledging forced disappearances”, Statement by AHRC, AS-133-2006, 7 June 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile. php/2006statements/575. 135

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were tortured while under the custody of security forces.136 He was last seen being forcefully pulled into a car on 12 March 2004 in Bangkok according to eyewitness accounts. Prior to the incident, he had told his family and friends that he had received anonymous death threats.

Illicit Use of Firearms News photographs taken during military repression of demonstations in 1973, 1976 and 1992 show the military using US issued M-16 rifles and pistols. The corpses of demonstrators shot dead were carried away to unknown locations in army trucks and remain missing since May 1992. The Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes, was formed by family members of the victims of the 1992 event, and has repeatedly expressed their frustrations about the reluctance of the military to admit or disclose any information where the remains of the missing have been kept. There has been a collusion of a variety of public institutions to deny relatives of those who were killed and/or disappeared any further information, including autopsy reports and findings from the forensic examinations of the dead victims as hospitals will not reveal this information. Investigations backed by

Soldiers with their guns approach the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, the center of demonstrations, May 1992. See International Commission of Jurists’ (ICJ) “ICJ observes trial associated with disappearance of prominent Muslim lawyer”, Thailand, 9 August 2005, at http://www.icj.org/news. php3?id_article=3741&lang=en. 136

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medical evidence which might reveal evidence of extra-judicial executions by the types of bullets found in the victims’ bodies can not be carried out. Since 2001, 19 human rights defenders have been killed in Thailand. Human rights activists have reported facing threats of armed violence for investigating and exposing the human rights situation by the authorities in the southern provinces. A Pattani resident investigating disappearances in the south, Mustafa Satopa, survived after being shot twice in his shoulder on 1 September 2005. Previously, he was reportedly followed by a group of armed men on several occasions.137 Arms for human rights abuses do not only come from state sources as Thailand is also a major hub for the black market trade in arms for the Southeast Asia region. Clandestine flows of arms to and from Thailand to surrounding countries such as Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar and Indonesia have appeared frequently in the press and Thailand is reported to be a transit country for illegal arms from Pakistan, China and North Korea.138

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Several government-initiated commissions have been formed to investigate the May 1992 military repression, but no uncensored public reports have been released by any of them. An in-depth investigative report of the May 1992 event was prepared by the Ministry of Defense in Thailand. Under the Act of Official Information, this report was made inaccessible to the public under the pretext of security reasons. Following domestic and international pressure, parts of the report were shown to some civil society groups on June 2000 but as much as 90% of the report remained undisclosed.139 In 1995, the Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes with help from the Law Society of Thailand launched legal action against the five leaders of the National Peace Keeping Council (NPKC) who ordered troops to use firearms against unarmed demonstrators. The lawsuit was obstructed by the Pardon Provision,140 which permanently exempts the five NPKC regime leaders from any and all future prosecution through either the civil or supreme courts of Thailand. No perpetrators of deaths or

The identity of the group of armed men was not indicated. See Amnesty International’s “Thailand: If you want peace, work for justice”, 4 January 2006, at http://www.amnest.or.th/library/ thailand_4_january_2006_report.doc. 137

138

See Small Arms Survey’s Counting the Human Cost, p. 143, Oxford University Press, 2002.

139

As indicated by the Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes.

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) “Thailand: The redress of grievances May 1992 victims and families demand justice”, Human Rights Solidarity, 15 August 2001, at http:// www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/2000vol10no04/351/. 140

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disappearances in May 1992 have been officially investigated, tried or sentenced, and no compensation or legal redresses has been received by the victims or their family members for the atrocities of May 1992. Currently, plans are being finalized to establish a memorial for the May 1992 victims in the same location where the uprising occurred in Bangkok. In 2001, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Thailand was established under provisions of a new constitution adopted in 1997. The NHRC has a limited mandate to investigate and redress past human rights violations, including the events of May 1992. Government restrictions and financial constraints impede the NHRC from operating autonomously and in full accordance with the Paris Principles which outlines the status and functioning of national human rights institutions. Although the NHRC can issue reports of any findings and make recommendations, it does not have the authority to make legal decisions or order other government institutions to take legal actions against human rights violators.141 The NHRC faced strong criticism and did not receive cooperation from the government in instances when it has exposed human rights abuses by law enforcement officers. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, himself a former Police officer, openly accused NHRC commissioner Pradit Chareonthaitawee of being unpatriotic after the commissioner, at a March 2003 UN commission, criticized the Thai police force for its inadequate investigations of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects which occurred during the “War on Drugs” in 2002. Following the Prime Minister’s criticism, Commissioner Chareonthaitawee received anonymous death threats by telephone condemning him for speaking of human rights violations in Thailand at the UN.142 Two other NHRC commissioners, Vasant Phanich and Jaran Dittha-Apichai, received anonymous threats of death and abduction in 2004 after they investigated and reported on human rights abuses in the southern provinces of Thailand.143 These incidents have contributed to a climate in which human rights defenders find it increasingly dangerous to investigate and report incidents of enforced and involuntary disappearances. In the Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces where a state of emergency is imposed, constitutional safeguards are bypassed allowing security forces to arrest anyone on

See South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre’s “Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission”, HRF/76/03, Human Rights Features, 8 May 2003, at http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/ hrfeatures/HRF76.htm.

141

South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre’s “Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission”, Human Rights Features, HRF/76/03, 8 May 2003, at http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF76.htm. 142

See Amnesty International’s “Thailand: Threats against human rights defenders”, Public Statement, ASA/39/007/2004, 17 May 2004, at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA390072 004?open&of=ENG-THA. 143

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suspicion and without charge. Arrested or abducted persons are frequently placed in undisclosed detention centers, and information about the location and reason for detention are often denied to the detainees’ families. These circumstances make persons arrested by the State susceptible to disappearing. Under the state of emergency the police and security forces are granted immunity from any prosecution for their activities.144 Five police officers alleged to have been involved in Somchai Neelaphaijit’s disappearance were on trial on charges of robbery and coercion, but not abduction or forced disappearance, in August 2005.145 Thai national law does not include enforced and involuntary disappearances as crimes. Demand for ransom by the perpetrators must be demonstrated in order for the crime to be categorized as abduction or kidnapping. Since these are absent in cases of disappearances, Thai law can not recognize any punishable offence. On 12 January 2006, one defendant, Police Major Ngern Thongsuk, was found guilty of coercion and sentenced to three years of imprisonment under section 309 (2) of the Penal Code of Thailand. The other four defendants were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Many observers of the case, including Angkhana Neelaphaijit who is the missing attorney’s wife, noted that the investigation for the case was incomplete and the trial was flawed from the beginning. Angkhana Neelaphaijit, who won the Gwangju Human Rights Award in 2006 for her efforts in seeking justice for the disappearances of her husband and other missing victims in Thailand, plans to appeal the court decision. Human rights and civil society organizations are now urging for the establishment of a publicly-accessible special agency to officially document and register complaints about disappearances in the southern provinces, which would function similarly to the agency that registered the names of missing Tsunami victims in Thailand. The agency would be responsible for issuing certificates and other official documents to the family members of the missing once they place a complaint about the disappearances of their relatives. These certificates would officially acknowledge the disappearances of the victims in order to ensure that the family members of the missing are eligible for immediate financial assistance and/or legal services without having to wait two years as is currently required under Article 61 of the Thai Civil Code in order to declare missing relatives officially dead.146 Accordingly, the agency would be addressing the practical and financial problems faced by the families whose missing relatives were often the sole or primary wage earners in their households.

See Amnesty International’s “Thailand: If you want peace, work for justice”, 4 January 2006, at http://www.amnest.or.th/library/thailand_4_january_2006_report.doc. 144

Nonviolence International Southeast Asia observed the proceedings of the trial since its beginning. 145

See Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) “Thailand: Expediting of “disappearance” cases in south could follow tsunami example, AHRC says”, Press Releases, AHRC-PL-040-2006, 7 June 2006, at http://www.ahrchk.net/pr/mainfile.php/2006mr/335/. 146

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Burma/Myanmar The Disappeared and their Perpetrators Burma has been under military or authoritarian rule for most of its existence as an independent state. Internal rebellion and civil war between central authorities and various ethnic groups, as well as an internal popular uprising against a previous authoritarian regime in 1988 have been the background in which human rights crime, including disappearances, have taken place. In 1988, a popular uprising was suppressed by military means, leading to an unknown number of people, estimates ranged from 400 to 1000, dead and an unknown number of disappeared. Witnesses at the time stated that the bodies of the dead in Rangoon were collected by the military. Two Japanese tourists stated they saw the police throw bodies into the Irrawaddy river to destroy the evidence.147 No independent investigation of the events has ever taken place, as the military junta which seized power through the repression remains in power at the present time. The political opposition, the National League for Democracy, has not been able to properly document the cases of disappearance from 1988, but has acknowledged the disappearance, with eventual re-appearance in most cases, of several of its members outside Rangoon.

In May 2003, a caravan of NLD party members, along wth their General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi, was attacked by a regime-instigated mob at Depayin in Northern Burma. Although most of the attackers were armed with sticks and spears, an Army Captain who brought

www.irrawaddy.org

In recent years disappearances have taken place during suppression of nonviolent opposition to military rule and during forced labor for the military in combat zones.

Outrage: Burmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggle for democracy, Bertil Lintner, Review Publishing Co. 1989, pg. 136-7 147

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some of the attackers was seen firing at random into the crowd with his handgun. He later took away some of the dead in the vehicle he had arrived in. The opposition published a list of 115 persons who were unaccounted for after the event.148 Witnesses who escaped from the attack, including three girls who crawled out from under a pile of dead bodies collected after the event, reported that most of the dead were burned on the spot by the authorities and the remains dumped in the nearby Mu River.149 No official commission or other investigation has been mobilized to account for what happened, but some witnesses escaped to Thailand and told their stories to the international press. The United Nations Special Raporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar stated afterward that there was â&#x20AC;&#x153;prima facie evidence that the Depayin incident could not have happened without the connivance of State agentsâ&#x20AC;?.150 A non-official report was compiled in May 2004 by an Adhoc Commission on the Depayin Massacre (Burma) made up of exile Burmese political activists. The military has forcibly conscripted villagers in zones of conflict to do various types of work for the military, including marching in front of military units in areas suspected of landmine contamination and placing them within military columns to deter attacks.151 After the International Labor Organization revealed the depth of this abuse within Burma, the military began conscripting prisoners from around the country for enforced service as porters in its operations against ethnic-based insurgencies. Villagers and prisoners have been known to perish in armed clashes. What happens afterward is dependent on the military commander. Some are simply left where they died, others are carried back to military camps. Sometimes their families are officially informed or have been able to obtain

List compiled by Mandalay National League for Democracy office and circulated by the NCGUB. 148

149

Interviews with witnesses to the events, published by the NCGUB.

Statement by Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar to the 58th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Third Committee, Item 117c, 12 November 2003. 150

151 Landmine Monitor Annual Report, Burma/Myanmar Country Reports 1999-2006, International Campaign to Ban Landmines

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information by going directly to the commanders at military bases. Returning villagers or prisoners who have survived forced labor may pass on information to a family about the state of their family member. In some cases, these forced conscripts simply vanish. In a 2004 interview, the NLD said that about 1,300 to 1,500 people had either been killed or what happened to them remains unknown.

Illicit Use of Firearms In 1988, the Burmese Army had a very eclectic arsenal of infantry arms. Many were procured from the United States, under Mutual Defense Assistance Plan and later under the Military Assistance Program. Arms were also provided by Britain, Israel and Yugoslavia. Older British made Enfield rifles were used to arm the Police and Peoples Militia. With German assistance, the Burmese Army manufacture a variant of the Heckler & Koch G2, G3 and G4 assault rifles and light machine guns. These are used by the infantry, and known as BA72, BA63 and BA64 respectively.152 A witness to the 1988 attack on the prodemocracy movement stated recounts that â&#x20AC;&#x153;at 11:30 pm military trucks came from behind City Hall. These were followed by more trucks as well as Bren-carriers, their machine guns pointed straight infront of them. Spontaneously the demonstrators began singing the national anthem. Two pistol shots rang out and then the sound of machine gunfire reverberated in the dark between the buildings. People fell in droves as they were hit.â&#x20AC;?153 According to eyewitnessess, firearms were used by security agents during the attack on the National League for Democracy at Depayin in May 2003.154

Transforming the Tatmadaw: The Burmese Armed Forces since 1988, Andrew Selth, Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No 113, 1996. 152

153

Outrage: Burmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggle for democracy, Bertil Lintner, Review Publishing Co. 1989, pg. 135

The 2nd Preliminary Report of the Adhoc Commission on the Depayin Maccacre (Burma), May 2004. 154

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Infantry arms are always present to force compliance with orders to work as a porter for the military, during which the porter may perish or disappear.155

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees No state human rights commission exists within Burma. The authorities remain hostile to any human rights monitoring within the country. Some complaints, not involving death, have been forwarded to the International Labor Organization office in Rangoon, but Burmese nationals who have sought legal redress in Burmese courts have been arrested. In general, citizens of Burma cannot obtain redress through the courts for any state abuse. A short lived Human Rights Committee was organized within the Ministry of Home Affairs, which attended meetings within the region of national human rights institutions. The main purpose of this Committee appears to have been to deflect criticism of the regime on human rights concerns. All members of the committee were removed during an internal purge within the military junta in October 2004, and it has not been reconstituted.

Forced Labour in Myanmar: Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under Article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the observance of Myanmar of the Force Labour Convention, 1930 No. 29. International Labour Organization, Geneva 2 July 1998. 155

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China The Disappeared and their Perpetrators On 3 to 4 June 1989, the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to suppress massive popular protests which had been taking place in Beijing, its suburbs and in other cities in mainland China.

AP Photo/Jeff Widener

Since mid-April of that year, students, intellectuals and labor activists had been gathering in increasing numbers to demand governmental reform. The most well known of these demonstrations was the one which took place at Tiananmen Square in the capital, and the much photographed Goddess of Democracy statue constructed by students from the Central Academy of Arts involved in demonstrations there. The numbers of killed, injured or disappeared are unknown. Figures range from the Communist Party of China released figure of 300156 to an unofficial figure reportedly by a Chinese Red Cross worker of 2600157.

What is clear is that the authorities have actively covered over evidence. A clandestine mass grave for some of those killed during the suppression was discovered outside High School No.28 in Beijing when abnormally heavy rains uncovered corpses. These remains were removed swiftly to an unknown location. Witness stated troops also entered hospitals and removed corpses which they then cremated without the involvement of the families. The Mothers of Tiananmen Square have compiled a list of 155 known victims of the 3-4 June suppresThe Goddess of Democracy statue became the center of demonstrations.

156

“The Myth of Tiananmen and the Price of a Passive Press,” Columbia Journalism Review,

Sep-Oct 1998 157

‘Tiananmen Square protests of 1989’ in internet Wikipedia accessed 10 January 2007.

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sion, of which 13 were enforced disappearances.158 On 5 June 1989, the Tiananmen Square had been cleared of protesters but as the crackdown continued, an unknown man stood up alone in front of a column of tanks preventing their advance. This image of a lone ordinary man challenging the might of the Chinese military became famous as he was photographed and videotaped by media and these images reached international audiences overnight. The “Tank Man” became a symbol of the Chinese democracy movement. Little is known of what happened to the Tank Man. Among the conflicting reports that came out, one said that he was arrested on the spot, another claimed he was executed, and another version said that he was hiding in mainland China. In an interview with western media who asked what happened to the man, then Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin replied, “I think never killed.” Beyond this statement though, the Chinese authorities have not provided any details, and despite numerous attempts to find him or what became of him, the Tank Man remains a mystery. In fact, as with other events related to the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, images and discussion on the Tank Man still remain political taboo in mainland China.159 There has been a lot of effort by Chinese authorities to wipe out the memory of this event such as banning it on Chinese TV, censoring foreign footage, and even cutting off pictures in newspapers that carry this image.160

Illicit Use of Firearms The People’s Republic of China has yet to admit that the People’s Liberation Army used overwhelming and illegal force to carry out dispersion of an unarmed crowd. Previous statements that deadly force was used due to a lack of riot equipment were false. There has been no admission that state forces killed Chinese people. Official statements declared that soldiers shot into the air, and that bystanders were shot. The link between how soldiers firing into the air could kill bystanders has not been made clear. Soldiers were deployed with a full range of infantry equipment, including AK-47 assault rifles with bayonets, hand guns, machine guns and gas grenades. These weapons were mostly believed to have been of Norinco/State Industries of China manufacture. The PLA however, was not unified in its view of the need to suppress the demon-

June 4th Massacre: Testimonies of the wounded and the families of the dead. Tiananmen Mothers Campaign. Undated. 158

159

‘Tank Man” in internet Wikepedia accessed 8 March 2007.

Frontline: The Tank Man. Interviews with China specialists and eye witnessess accessed through the WGBH Forum Network, http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=0236. 160

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AP Photo/Mark Avery

strations. Reportedly, the 27th and 28th units of the Army were brought in from outside provinces because the local PLA were considered to be sympathetic to the protest and the people of the city to be depended upon. Reporters described elements of the 27th unit as having been responsible for most civilian deaths, and that Beijing residents stop and stop a carload of soldiers on their after the attack on the way to Tiananmen Square. The crowd asked the soldiers what they are going to do with the machine gun on their dashboard. square, the 27th unit established defensive positions in Beijing—not of the sort designed to counter a civilian uprising, but as if to defend against attacks by other military units.The locally-stationed 38th Army which was believed to be sympathetic to the uprising was not supplied with any ammunition and were said to be torching their own vehicles as they abandoned them to join the protests.161

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees China has no national Human Rights Commission. No body has been set up to impartially investigate the events of June 1989. In January 2006, Google Inc. agreed to block any reference to Tiananmen Square, Tibet or Taiwan on its Chinese language service.162 Tiananmen Square remains tightly patrolled every June. The Mothers of Tiananmen Square began organizing to seek admission of responsibility and redress by the Peoples Republic of China in 1991. Despite harassment, intimidation and retribution by the PRC against these families they continue to carry out their activities. Several families of disappeared/killed people have been labeled ‘state enemies’. Since 1995, the Tiananmen Mother’s have submitted evidence to the Supreme People’s Procurate on a yearly basis, but no known action has been taken on the material.163 In August 2002, a District Court judge in the U.S. upheld a rul-

161 162

‘Tiananmen Square protests of 1989’ in internet Wikipedia accessed 10 January 2007. ‘Google censors itself for China’, BBC, 25 January 2005.

Letter to Hu Jintao, President of the Peoples Republic of China by the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances, 30 August 2003. 163

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ing that a human rights lawsuit could be brought against Chinese Premier Li Peng in US courts on behalf of survivors of Tiananmen Square who were residing in the United States.164 In 2003, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, a regional network of which the Tiananmen Mothers are a part, requested that the PRC set up an independent committee under the National People’s Congress to independently investigate the events of June 1989 and publish a detailed list of victims, to inform the victims’ families of their investigations and findings, to pass compensation regulation, and to provide accountability, but their request has not been responded to.165 The Peoples Republic of China was confirmed to be a member of the new Human Rights Council at the United Nations until at least 2009.

‘District Court upholds Service of Human Rights lawsuit on former Chinese Premier on behalf of Tiananmen Square survivors’. News article dated 9 August 2002, from Human Rights in China website. 164

165

See note 160

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Korea The Disappeared and their Perpetrators A key event in the struggle for democracy in Korea was the Kwanju uprising in May 1980 when unarmed students at the Chonnam National University defied martial law and were attacked by the Korean Army. Following this outrage, a citizens assembly took control of the city from the Army. In a retaliatory counter-attack, the Army, backed with tanks invaded and reclaimed control of the city. Some 120 people killed in the attack were gathered in garbage trucks by paratroopers and buried en-mass. Some remain missing and are believed to have been buried in undisclosed places or to have been burned.166 The total number of people killed by the authoritarian regime is not sure, but many, if not most, have been investigated through the Presidential Commission on Suspiciuous Deaths (see below).

Illicit Use of Firearms Prior to 1981, the South Korean Army relied almost exclusively on U.S. made and supplied weapons. All weapons used in the commission of crimes associated with Kwanju would be US manufactured and supplied. Consultations by the Korean government during the time of the demonstration with US authorities has been well documented.167 After that time, indigenous capacity to supply arms to the military was created through technology transfers from US military industries and many weapons now wholly Korean made are based on US designs, but the first Korean produced infantry weapon did not go into service until 1981.

See eye witness accounts sent by the Korean Catholic Church and compiled and published by the Japanese Catholic Council for Justice and Peace, 6 June 1980. Accessed 8 May 2007 at http:// eng.518.org/_publish/contents/eng/0202/0202-2.htm. 166

Freedom of Information Act requests by journalists revealed this by obtaining State Department cables from that time. See â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The U.S. Role in Korea in 1979 and 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Tim Shorrock, http:// www.kimsoft.com/korea/kwangju3.htm 167

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Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Korea has gone farther in examining, redressing and undertaking prosecutions of past human rights abuses than any other Asian country, and serves as a model in many respects.

Disappeared: Park Tae Soon Park Tae Soon, was imprisoned for one and a half years for labor activism in the Inchon area, which he had become involed in after leaving Hanshin University. After being released from prison, he disappeared near the Kuro railway station while on his way home from a cardboard factory. Case investigated under petition to the Presidential Commission]

A Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths was created by the ‘Special Act to Find the Truth of Suspicious Deaths’ and enacted January 2000. The purpose of the Act was to: ‘promote unity and democracy by uncovering the truth about Suspicious Deaths which occurred during the Democratization Movement against past authoritarian regimes’. The Commission had broad powers, including the ability to investigate suspicious deaths upon request from petitioners, to accuse human rights violators to appropriate government institutions for prosecution, to provide restitution and compensation to victims, to be responsible for compensation and assistance to witnesses, and to compile and make public reports on their investigations.

The Act was the culmination of a people’s struggle, led by the Korean Bereaved Families Association, a civil society group made up of the families of the victims of a broad range of human rights abuses, including enforced disappearance. Actions by the families included a 422-day tent demonstration during which they camped on the National Assembly grounds until the Act was passed. Prior to the act, as a result of civil society agitation, the National Assembly opened a series of public hearings to clarify the truth of the Kwangju Massacre, and in December 1995 passed a special bill allowing punishment of those responsible. This led to the indictment of two former South Korean Presidents and their accomplices for murder over the May 18 Kwangju Massacre. Former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo were sentenced for their roles in the violent suppression in Kwanju and other crimes against the Korean people. After serving two years of the sentences in prison, they were pardoned by Kim Dae Jung when he became president in 1997. Both former presidents had been responsible for the imprisonment of Kim Dae Jung. The role of and the complicity of the United States in the Kwanju repression and subsequent human rights abuses by authoritarian regimes has never been addressed.

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Taiwan The Disappeared and their Perpetrators The 28th of February 1947 is the day marked as the beginning of authoritarian rule and occupation by Nationalist (Kuomintang or KMT) forces from China set up the Republic of China (RoC) government-in-exile on Taiwan. Nationalist forces began arriving some two months after the collapse and departure of the Japanese government of occupation, displacing or taking over indigenous administration and organization. The months after February 1947 saw rule by terror. Native Taiwan elites—teachers, artists and writers and other social leaders were systematically located and imprisoned, assassinated or disappeared, followed by 40 years of ‘white terror’ rule by the KMT. White Terror refers to the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of massacres under martial law by the KMT during the said period when around 140,000 Taiwanese were imprisoned and executed for real or perceived opposition to the KMT government.168 As a more open and transparent form of government develops on the island since the liftin of martial law n 1987, historical examination of the early events during the KMT rule has also been taking place. In Taipei, a 2-28 Memorial Museum has been set up with some support from the Taipei City Government and its Department of Cultural Affairs. It has the task of collecting and preserving historical records related to the event.169 The number of people who disappeared during the weeks after 28 February or during the ‘White Terror’ remains unknown.

Illicit Use of Firearms

Shells from military rifles used during the period of the White Terror are kept as evidence and as a reminder of the atrocities that have transpired in Taiwan during the rule of the KMT. 168

Disappearances as well as other human rights crimes were committed by nationalist forces who used such abuses indiscriminately to suppress popular rebellion against the imposition of rule over the island by them.

‘228 Incident’ and ‘White Terror’ in internet Wikipedia accessed 23 August 2007.

Several parts of this section rely on material from the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, and visits by Nonviolence International to the institution. http://228.culture.gov.tw/ 169

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Shells from military rifles used during large scale killings have been recovered from the site of at least one mass grave which has been exhumed, and the evidence is kept at the 2-28 Museum. A hospital book which was pierced by, now banned, exploding ‘dumdum’ bullets, was presented to the US Embassy by a hospital worker as evidence of an attack on the hospital. The book is now on display in the 2-28 Museum. Most of the arms used by Nationalist forces was known to be of U.S. manufacture. The US assisted the Nationalists with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new surplus military supplies and generous loans for hundreds of millions of dollars more of military equipment just prior to their fleeing the mainland for Taiwan.170

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Taiwan does not have a national Human Rights Commission and a bill to establish one introduced in the Executive Yuan in 2002 was not passed. An Executive Yuan Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee which was tasked to produce a national human rights report by March 2003 did not do so. A Human Rights Advisory Committee under the Presidential Office exists. Over the past five years, the committee has reviewed controversies surrounding the government’s plans to build a fingerprint database of every person in Taiwan, the lack of laws regulating firms that threaten debtors with violence and problems involving Chinese smugglers, but not historical cases.171 It is not known whether or not this Advisory Committee has recommended the establishment of a permanent national commission with powers. The 2-28 Museum notes that official reluctance by the Defence Forces to allow investigations remain. Other than support for the 2-28 Museum, there is no official commission which is looking into disappearances which happened during the seizure of the island by nationalist forces or which is providing restitution to its victims. Twenty memorials to those who perished at the time have been built in different cities and counties of the island.

170

U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Zed Books, 2004, p23

Taipei Times, ‘Lu unflinching in her goal’, 16 Jan. 2006, and 2002 Human Rights Policy White Paper of the Republic of China (Taiwan) 171

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Occupied Tibet The Disappeared and their Perpetrators

Tibetan monk ponders the writing on the wall in Dharamsala, India.

Tibet Images

In 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a young boy being trained for one of the highest positions in Tibetan society disappeared when the Chinese government took him and his family under â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;protectiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; custody. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was only 6 when he disappeared. Chinese officials state that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is alive and well, but has not allowed anyone to meet with him.

Yeshua Moser

Tibet has been occupied since its invasion by the Peoples Liberation Army in 1959. The number of people to have gone missing within Tibet under rule of the Chinese Communist Party is unknown. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy is a de facto Human Rights Commission in exile, as it operates under the auspices of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The TCHRD has tracked some cases of disappearance within Tibet.

Monks arrested as Kinesiske solidates, Lhasa, 5 March 1988.

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Disappearances take place in Tibet today. Disappearances in Tibet occur in both the home and in public places. State agents, mostly armed Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials, carry out arrests, but they are accompanied by the Peoples Armed Police (PAP). When a person is taken from their home, families are witnesses. The state agent usually gives the pretext of taking the person for questioning and assures that the person will return home after sometime, which does not happen. Many people who disappear, reappear after a court has sentenced them to a prison term. Until the sentence is passed, officials deny any knowledge of the detention or whereabouts of the person. People are routinely held for six to eight months before a trial. Relatives may also learn of a family memberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s detention through information passed through other prisoners who are released from the same place of detention.

Illicit Use of Firearms PSB officials carry Chinese made Type 54 or Type 64 pistols which have a 10 or 5 bullet magazine repectively. The PAP are armed with Trunfungchang machine guns, which have a folding stock for close range rapid firing. High ranking officials will carry the Type 64.

Legal and/or Institutional Guarantees Tibet is ocoocupied by the Peoples Republic of China which has no national Human Rights Commission. The TCHRD under the Tibetan Government in Exile has tracked some cases of disappearance within Tibet. Representatives of the TCHRD or Offices of Tibet are harassed by PRC officials whenever they attempt to make presentations on the situation in Tibet. PRC officials often also take action against non-governmental organizations which undertake tasks on behalf of Tibetan groups and which have consultative status at the UN. The Peoples Republic of China was confirmed to be a member of the new Human Rights Council at the United Nations, and will hold a seat until 2009.

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Conclusion and Recommendations Enforced and involuntary disappearances constitute a gross and multiple victim human rights crime. The disappeared person suffers immediately. The impact on families and friends can last into the decades. The impact on society can cause a loss in confidence between the government and the governed for as long as the perpetrators remain immune to justice. Disappearances in Asia have occurred when citizens are abducted or arrested during suppression of popular opposition, during uprisings and rebellions or as part of broader counter insurgency campaigns. Some countries have been marked by a series of violent historical political events when the national armed forces were used to suppress democratic aspirations by attacking, executing and disappearing civilians who were part of mass uprisings or were present at the demonstration sites. While some incidents of forced disappearances can be attributed to armed insurgency groups, the vast majority of the perpetrators of disappearances in all Asian states and territory covered in this report have been identified to be authorized agents of the state, usually the police or military forces and other quasi-state entities according to testimonies and eyewitness accounts gathered by civil society organizations and relatives of the missing. It is distressingly common for the families of the disappeared to be denied any information by State authorities about the whereabouts of victims of arbitray arrests and abductions. It is not uncommon for persons enquiring into the whereabouts of someone missing to be subjected to humiliation, threats, harassment, arrest and even assassination. Several elements must be present for disappearances to take place: the will of the state to commit the crime, agents, impunity and force. The clandestine nature of abductions wipes out evidence of unlawful conduct by the abductors, and the quasi-legal aspect of the arbitrary arrests undermine the most fundamental democratic law enforcement procedures. Moreover, agents have rarely been held legally accountable for the crimes of disappearances in Asian states where impunity is prevalent for a variety of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;officialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; crimes. The more impunity there is, the easier it is for the state to recruit agents and the easier it is for power holders to consider committing the crime. Korea is, unfortunately, an anomaly in Asia as a commission of investigation and restitution was implemented at the highest level by which former leaders were held responsible for their crimes against the population and brought to justice. National Human Rights Commissions (NHRC) are a key safeguard against the abuse

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of power, as one of the few governmental authorities with the mandate to officially accept and investigate complaints of human rights abuses including forced disappearances. In those countries covered in this report which have established NHRCs, their powers include some ability to investigate, report and recommend legal actions regarding disappearance complaints. However, the NHRCs mentioned in this report all have operational limitations and barriers in addressing disappearance cases and offering legal redresses to the victims and family members of the missing. The Philippines and Indonesia, in particular, illustrate how the majority of disappearance cases remain untouched and unresolved by their national human rights institutions. National Human Rights Commissions in Asia do not meet the minimum conditions recommended in the Paris Principles. Limitations and barriers for Asian NHRCs include: no authority to make legal decisions in prosecuting the perpetrators and no ability to order other government institutions to cooperate or take legal actions against those responsible for human rights abuses. The autonomy of most NHRCsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the countries covered in this report is questionable. Some suffer from unreasonable and cumbersome structures, such as the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (J&K SHRC), where the responsibility to appoint operational staff falls to Delhi based authorities, and the lack of financial and resource support from the State government makes the J&K SHRC dependent on central-government disbursements, even for the most basic facilities. In Nepal, the king simply ordered a change within the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national human rights institution to replace independent commissioners with known royalist supporters. Both Nepal and Kashmir HRCs have been denied access to military zones and detention facilities despite having the legal mandate to enter such areas. Most NHRCs in Asia are unable to offer protection to witnesses or family members who report disappearance incidents. The safety of the NHRC commissioners and their field staff has been threatened, in some cases, for investigating and exposing the human rights abuses in their countries. The NHRC headquarters in Sri Lanka was destroyed by arson in October 2005, which caused the loss of evidence and documents on the human rights violations perpetrated by the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In Thailand, several NHRC commissioners have received death threats for revealing the extra-judicial killings of suspected drug traffickers by the police and for investigating the human rights situation in the southern districts of the country. Dysfunctional or obstructed human rights institutions aids impunity, but the ability to employ force is also important. In virtually all incidents of enforced and involuntary disappearances in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand, the presence and illicit use of weapons during abductions and arrests were another necessary component in allowing the crime to happen. The overwhelming majority of disappearance cases recorded within the countries and areas within this report would not have occurred without the use, or the threatened use, of weapons to

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force the victims and their families into compliance during the disappearance crimes. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Legalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; authority and numbers were not enough, the weapon also needed to be present. In most cases, the weapons were part of the statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; legal arsenal and many were supplied by other countries which raises the question of the supplier states complicity when known patterns of abuse occur in a recipient state. Nonviolence International Southeast Asia requested the assistance and cooperation of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND) in the Philippines, the Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (OPFMD) in Sri Lanka, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir, and the Commission for the Disappeared Victims of Violence (KontraS) and Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) in Indonesia to research the data they had on disappearance cases in their countries to confirm arms use during disappearance crimes. These civil society organizations could provide information and hard evidence about the bullets found in forensic analysis of the bodies of the missing victims who were extra-judicially executed and the ammunitions recovered from the exhumation sites where the bodies of the disappeared victims were clandestinely buried. Information and evidence of firearm use by the perpetrators in committing disappearance crimes in Pakistan, Nepal and Thailand have also been verified by various other sources, including news media photographic evidence and casings of shells at incident sites recovered by various people. The phenomenon of disappearances in all the situations covered in this report is therefore linked to a broader pattern of illicit use of legally-sanctioned firearms by state-affiliated agents and an accompanying climate of impunity. The combination of impunity and access to arms has dire consequences for human security in Asia. It has and will exacerbate human rights violations and humanitarian crises in these countries. The human rights and humanitarian dimensions in international arms trade were not included in the United Nations Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (UN PoA), which is a political and non-binding document, but the only one which was expected at the outset to comprehensively address the issues of firearms proliferation and its impact on human societies. The focus of the UN PoA has limited itself to the illicit possession and illicit trade of small arms. The fact that state held weapons become illicit through use is missing. It has been disappeared from the agenda. Human rights abuses by legally sanctioned firearms can often be predicted prior to the supply of arms through international trade in many countries where State-affiliated criminals continue to enjoy full impunity. Nevertheless, arms continue to be supplied to many violent and oppressive regimes under which the human security of its citizens are often severely threatened.

98 Justice Disappeared This report focuses on firearms that become illicit through use in the context of stateinstigated, politically-motivated, disappearance crimes. The discredited UN PoA has many shortcomings, not the least of which is the total lack of acknowledging the human rights and humanitarian dimensions of the illicit use of arms by states. These deficiencies must be addressed in a legally binding treaty which unambiguously ties any trade in weapons to human rights and humanitarian obligations. An Arms Trade Treaty has been promoted by an international civil society campaign of which Nonviolence International is a part. A Convention on International Arms Transfers was inspired by a dozen Nobel Peace Laureates who came together at the invitation of Oscar Arias and agreed to the Nobel Laureates Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers which called on all states to place any arms transfers under human rights conditionality. While this activity by Nobel Peace laureates pre-dated the United Nations process which led to the UN PoA, the principles articulated by the Nobel laureates were either overlooked or ignored. In support of the effort of the Nobel Laureates Code of Conduct, several NGOs codified its principles with legal measures that are already enshrined within existing treaties and obligations under international law, which jointly should regulate and control the global flow of small arms and light weapons. Nonviolence International recommends that governments seriously concerned with the lack of control in the trade in arms and the corresponding human security threat study and consider the elements of the NGO authored Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers to guide them in creation of a legally-binding international agreement to limit arms transfers. Article 3 and Article 4 of the Framework Convention are especially relevant in addressing the human rights and humanitarian implications of the arms trade. In these articles, limitations on arms transfers based on the anticipated use of small arms and light weapons in the recipient countries are clearly indicated. These articles suggest the legal mechanisms to combat and prevent legally-sanctioned guns from being used for human rights violations and crimes against humanity, which are particularly applicable in the case of arms used to facilitate politically-motivated disappearances. Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers: Article 3: Limitations based on use Contracting Parties shall not authorize international transfers of arms in circumstances in which there exists a reasonable risk that the arms would: a. be used in violation of the prohibitions on: the threat or use of force; threat to the peace; breach of the peace or acts of aggression; unlawful interference in the internal affairs of another State;

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b. be used to commit serious violations of human rights; c. be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law applicable in international or non-international armed conflict; d. be used to commit acts of genocide or crimes against humanity e. be diverted and used to commit any of the acts referred to in the preceding sub-paragraphs. Article 4: Other considerations Contracting Parties shall avoid authorizing international transfers of arms in circumstances in which there are reasonable grounds for considering that the transfer in question would: a. be used for or to facilitate the commission of violent crimes; b. adversely affect political stability or regional security; c. adversely affect sustainable development; or be diverted and used in a manner contrary to the preceding subparagraphs.

The proposed articles make clear that an exporting country would become responsible for violating international law if it knowingly transfers arms to a country where arms are known to be used to commit human rights crimes or other internationally designated wrongful acts (such as invading another state). The exporting state could be held legally accountable if it knew, or could reasonably predict prior to supplying arms to the recipient state, that the arms and weapons would facilitate human rights abuses, violations of humanitarian law and/or serious crimes against humanity. Similarly, the ramifications of arms transfers in the recipient state must be considered first before arms can be provided to the country.172 The principles enshrined in these proposed articles are relevant in controlling the illicit use of arms in perpetrating premeditated crimes such as enforced and involuntary disappearances. In December 2006, with the support and in response to active lobbying by NGOs and civil society groups, the UN General Assembly, during their 61st session, voted to adopt the resolution Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms (A/Res/61/89). The resolution requests the UN Secretary General to seek views of member states on the issue and to establish a group of governmental experts to examine the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding instrument establishing comon international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional

See â&#x20AC;&#x153;Draft Framework Convention on International Arms Transfersâ&#x20AC;? at http://www. armstradetreaty.org/att/att.framework.pdf. 172

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arms. The member states are supposed to submit their views in time for the report to be made for the 62nd GA session (2007). The government experts will then look at this report and prepare their own recommendations which will be considered during the GA’s 63rd session (2008). As a matter of global urgency, Nonviolence International encourages governments to participate in the process and submit their views, and to incorporate therein their people’s views which should come out of the People’s Consultation, an activity spearheaded by local NGOs to engage people and collect their views on the arms trade.173 On 29 June 2006, the newly established United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the UN Draft International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, and on 20 December 2006, the convention was finally adopted by UN General Assembly by consensus. The obligations of States to criminalize the practice of enforced and involuntary disappearances under their domestic laws as stipulated in this Convention on Disappearances. The lack of specific criminalization of disappearances aids and abets impunity. Nonviolence International Southeast Asia recommends governments who are truly committed to the eradication of the human rights crime of forced or involuntary disappearances immediately adopt criminal sanctions within their national law, and further combat impunity by assuring that national Human Rights Commissions be accorded the minimum standards called for in the Paris Principles.174

Nonviolence International Southeast Asia Regional Representative Alfredo Lubang provided the concept for the People’s Consultation which has been advanced by the Control Arms Campaign and implemented by various local NGOs around the globe. 173

See the “International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances”, E/CN.4/2005/WG.22/WP.1/REV.4 (Translated from French), 23 September 2005, at http://www.disappearances.org/undocs/E.CN.4.2005.WG.22.WP.1.REV.4%20-%20Convention% 20against%20Disappearances.pdf. 174

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External Sources consulted in this report: Ahmad, Naseer. “3932 disappeared in Kashmir since 1990”. Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), 21 June 1993. http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/gkreport.html. Amnesty International. “India: If they are dead, tell us – ‘Disappearances’ in Jammu and Kashmir”. ASA/20/002/1999, 2 March 1999. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA200021999?open&of=ENG 2S4. “India: Open letter to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on the failed promises on the Common Minimum Program”. ASA/20/033/2003, 2 December 2003. http://web.amnesty. org/library/Index/ENGASA200332003?open&of=ENG333. “Nepal: Escalating ‘disappearances’ amid a culture of impunity”. ASA/31/155/2004, 30 August 2004. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA311552004. “Pakistan: Further information on possible ‘disappearance’/fear for safety: Hayatullah Khan (m), journalist”. Urgent Action. ASA/33/009/2006/, 4 April 2006. http://web.amnesty. org/library/Index/ENGASA330092006?open&of=ENG344. “Pakistan: Possible ‘disappearance’/fear for safety: Hayatullah Khan (m), journalist”. Urgent Action. ASA/33/030/2005, 8 December 2005. http://t2web.amnesty.r3h.net/library/Index/ ENGASA330302005?open&of=ENG344. “Philippines: Not forgotten: the fate of the ‘disappeared’”. ASA/35/008/1996, 1 November 1996. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA350081996?open&of=ENGPHL. “Thailand: If you want peace, work for justice”. 4 January 2006. http://www.amnesty.or.th/library/thailand_4_january_2006_report.doc. “Thailand: Threats against human rights defenders”. Public Statement. ASA/39/007/2004, 17 May 2004. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA390072004?open&of=ENGTHA. Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD). “Statement of condemnation on the brutal arrest of APDP officers and members”. Statements of AFAD, Issues, 22 March 2004, http://www. afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html. “The Truth and Justice Commission Pakistan”. Membership Profiles. http://www.afad-online.org/ afadweb/home.html. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). “Nepal: A forgotten emergency – An appeal to de-recognize the dictatorial regime”. Statement by the Defend Human Rights Movement in Nepal. FS-02-2005, 22 September 2005. http:// www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2005statements/350. “Nepal: Morang-based security forces open fire at protesters killing six and injuring fifty following the gang-rape of a woman by security personnel”. Urgent Appeal. UA-162-2006, 18 May 2006. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1736. “Nepal: Petition to urge His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and the opposing Maoist groups to STOP disappearances in Nepal”, http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/nepal/. “Nepal’s Royal Coup”. Overview of the Coup. http://nepal.ahrchk.net/nepals_royal_coup.htm. “Pakistan: Protests against disappearances deserve public support”. Statement by AHRC. AS087-2006, 27 April 2006. http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/ 513/?print=yes. “Thailand: Alleged forced disappearances of man in Narathiwat”. Urgent Appeal. UA-1862006, 9 June 2006. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1775/. “Thailand: Expediting of “disappearance” cases in south could follow tsunami example, AHRC

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says”. Press Releases. AHRC-PL-040-2006, 7 June 2006. http://www.ahrchk.net/pr/mainfile.php/2006mr/335/. “Thailand: Steps to acknowledging forced disappearances.” Statement by AHRC. AS-1332006, 7 June 2006. http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/575/. “Thailand: The redress of grievances May 1992 victims and families demand justice”. Human Rights Solidarity. 15 August. http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/2000vol10no04/351/. Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC). “Civil and political rights, including the questions of disappearances and summary executions”. E/CN.4/2003/NGO/147. Submitted to the 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights of the Economic and Social Council of the UN, 12 March 2003. http://www.unhchr. ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.2003.NGO.17.En?Opendocument. “Enforced disappearances and zero rule of law in Nepal”. E/CN.4/2005/NG0/35. Submitted to the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 31 March 2005, http://www.alrc.net/pr/mainfile.php/2005pr/76/. Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). “Appeal”. Submitted to the UN Human Rights Commission. Statements of AFAD, Issues. Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD). http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/ home.html. “Enforced disappearances after installation of new government.” Statistics. Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD). http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html. “International day of disappeared persons.” Statement by APDP, 30 August 2003. http://www. geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84.html. Bangkok Post. “Porntip to exhume 300 bodies to find ‘missing”. 18 January 2006. BBC News. “Call for release of Pakistan rights activist”. World: South Asia, 25 March 2003, http:// news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2883669.stm. Bhanravee Tansubhapol. “Deep south/mystery graves, tackling the insurgency: Porntip to file report about bodies claim”. Bangkok Post. 9 June 2006. <http://www.bangkokpost.com/090606_ News/09Jun2006_news14.php> Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS). “Testimony of a victim of the abduction of activists, Nezar Patria”. Testimonies. 7 June 1998. http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/dis/test/patria.html. “The problem”. Speech on the 55 session UN Human Rights Commission. http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/un.html. Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR). “Chapter 7.2: Unlawful killings and enforced disappearances”. 20 January 2006. http://www.ictj.org/static/Timor. CAVR.English/07.2_Unlawful_Killings_and_Eforced_Disappearances.pdf.. “Draft Framework Convention on International Arms Transfers”. http://www.armstradetreaty.org/ att/att.framework.pdf. Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND). “Overall results of FIND’s search and documentation work over the past 17 ½ years, November 1985–May 24, 2003”. Statistics. Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD). http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home. html. Foundation of the Legal Assistance Institution. “The military are ‘fishing in troubled waters’: Analysis of the ordinance planning for safety and security of the nation”. KontraS, August 1999. http://www.desaparecidos.org/kontras/doc/fishing.html. Ganai, Naseer A. “84 persons disappeared in Mufti’s reign: APDP”. Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, 18 August 2003. http://www.geocities.com/apdpkashmir/84.html

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Ganguli, Dilip. “Worst sufferers in Kashmir are ‘half-widows’, says human rights group”. AP Worldstream, 30 January 2004. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1:90213837/Worst+sufferers+i n+Kashmir+ae+%7eA%7equot%3bhalf-widows%2c%7eA%7e.html?refid=ency_botnm. GlobalSecurity.org. “United People’s Front, Peoples’ War Group (PWG) Nepal, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)”. World: Para-military Groups, 27 April 2005. http://www.globalsecurity. org/military/world/para/upf.htm. Haviland, Charles. “Alarm over Nepal disappearances. South Asia. BBC News, 30 August 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3611204.stm. Human Rights Watch. “Asia overview: Sri Lanka”. World Report 2000. 2000. http://www.hrw.org/wr2k/Asia08.htm. “Nepal: Danger of ‘disappearances’ escalates”. Human Rights News. 9 February 2005. http:// hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/09/nepal10152.htm. “Nepal: King stifles Human Rights Commission”. Human Rights News. 25 May 2005. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/25/nepal11012.htm. “Nepal: Terror law likely to boost ‘disappearances’”. Human Rights News. 26 October 2004. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/25/nepal11012.htm. “Pakistan: U.S. citizens tortured, held illegally”. Human Rights News. 24 May 2005. http:// hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/24/pakist11005.htm. Imroz, Parvez. “Kashmir: The disappeared in Kashmir”. Asian Human Rights Commission – Urgent Appeals Program, 17 April 2003. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2003/429/. Imroz, Parvez. “State Repression: Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in Kashmir”. Combat Law, Vol. 1 Issue 4, October-November 2002. http://www.combatlaw.org/information. php?article_id=125&issue_id=4. International Commission of Jurists. “ICJ observes trial associated with disappearance of prominent Muslim lawyer”. Thailand. 9 August 2005. http://www.icj.org/news.php3?id_ article=3741&lang=en. “International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances”. E/ CN.4/2005/WG.22/WP.1/REV.4 (Translated from French), 23 September 2005. http://www. disappearances.org/undocs/E.CN.4.2005.WG.22.WP.1.REV.4%20-%20Convention%20agai nst%20Disappearances.pdf. International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP). Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions. 2nd edition, 2004. http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/102_p_01.pdf. International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development (INFID). “Item: 11 b, Disappearances and Summary Executions”. Written Statement by INFID. <http://www.kontras.org/data/Item%2 011b,%20Disappearances%20and%20Sumary%20Executions.pdf. Kaur, Ravinderjeet. “Half widows of Kashmir”. Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. Article no. 1600, 24 December 2004. http://www.ipcs.org/Kashmir_articles2.jsp?action=showView&kVa lue=1613&issue=1012&status=article&mod=a. Kramer, Katherine. Legal Controls on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Southeast Asia. Nonviolence International and Small Arms Survey, July 2001. Liyanaarrachchi, Champika. “52,800 Missing: Sri Lanka has no answers.” OneWorld South Asia. 11 December 2003. http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/75001/1/. New Internationalist. “Asian Tigers – The Facts”. Issue 263. January 1995. http://www.newint. org/issue263/facts.htm.

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New Yorker, The. “Outsourcing Torture: the secret history of America’s ‘extraordinary rendition program”. Jane Mayer. February 14, 2005. North East Secretariat on Human Rights’ (NESOHR). “Statistics on civilians affected by war in northeast: 1974-2004”. A report by NESOHR, January 2005. PeaceWomen – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. “Without trace”. 30 April 2005. http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Kashmir/April05/windows.html. Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes. “Victims of May 1992 Massacre”. Statistics. Asian Federation Against Disappearances (AFAD). http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html. Small Arms Survey. Counting the Human Cost. Oxford University Press, 2002. South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre. “J&K State Human Rights Commission: The healing can begin here”. Human Rights Features. HRF/27/05, 28 September 2005. http:// www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF127.htm. “Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission”. Human Rights Features. HRF/76/03, 8 May 2003. http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF76.htm. Task Force of Detainees in the Philippines. “An NGO report on the Philippine implementation of the ICCPR”. Submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, September 2003. http://www.tfdp.org/resources/ar_uniccpr.htm. United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/48/134. “National institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights”. 85th plenary meeting, 25 December 1993. http://www. un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r134.htm. U.S. Department of States. “East Asia and the Pacific: Indonesia”. Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2004. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 28 February 2005. http:// www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41643.htm. “East Asia and the Pacific: Indonesia”. Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2005. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 8 March 2006. http://www. state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61609.htm. “East Asia and the Pacific: Philippines”. Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2004. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 28 February 2005. http:// www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41657.htm. “East Asia and the Pacific: Thailand”. Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2005. Released by the Bureau of Democracy,Human Rights, and Labor, 8 March 2006. http://www. state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61628.htm. “South Asia: India.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices – 2005. Released by the Bureau of Democracy,Human Rights, and Labor, 8 March 2006. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2005/61707.htm. “South Asia: India.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2003. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 25 February 2004. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2003/27947.htm. “South Asia: Nepal.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2004. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 28 February 2005. http://www.state.gov/ g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41742.htm “South Asia: Nepal.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2005. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 8 March 2006. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2005/61709.htm. “South Asia: Pakistan.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2004. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 28 February 2005. http://www.state.gov/ g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41743.htm.

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“South Asia: Pakistan.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2005. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 8 March 2006. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/ rls/hrrpt/2005/61710.htm. “South Asia: Sri Lanka.” Country Reports On Human Rights Practices - 2004. Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 28 February 2005. http://www.state.gov/ g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41744.htm. Wikipedia: The Free Encylopedia. “Dili massacre”. 25 May 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dili_massacre. “History of Thailand since 1973”. 14 May 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_since_1973. “Jammu and Kashmir”. 13 May 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_and_Kashmir. “Military of Nepal”. 23 May 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Nepal.

Web Resources Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) http://www.afad-online.org/afadweb/home.html Tiananmen Mothers Campaign Group-China www.FilltheSquare.org Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)-Kashmir, India www.apdpkashmir.blogspot.com IKOHI & KONTRAS Commission for the Disappeared Victims of Violence -Indonesia www.kontras.org Nonviolence International http://nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia/ Control Arms Campaign http://www.controlarms.org/ Arms Trade Treaty http://www.armstradetreaty.com/ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles) http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/parisprinciples.htm Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions http://www.asiapacificforum.net/ Small Arms Survey http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/

106 Justice Disappeared

The Cover Photo On 25 March 2003, two human rights activists were disappeared by Indonesian security personnel. This is a rare photograph of an abduction in process. On our cover, we have highlighted Mukhlis, an Indonesian human rights activist, who can just be seen over the shoulder of the member of the armed forces intellicence/SGI in the striped shirt behind the activists. To the left of Mukhlis in this picture is fellow activist Zulfikar, who was also taken at the same time. Forward the group is the car used in the abduction. In the second accompanying photograph, the car, with the abductees inside, is about to leave the scene. The agent to the rear is seen closing the door. The car was a Commando LDX with the number plate of BL 406 or 408. The agent at the rear was later identified to be working at the District Military Bureau in Aceh.

Dividers Quotes used in the country dividers are taken from â&#x20AC;&#x153;End the Silence: The Right to Know.â&#x20AC;? These were expressed by people from various countries who have experienced the disappearance of family and friends. Reprinted with permission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Photos used in the dividers are credited to: FIND Philippines; www.disappearances.org; AFAD, www. radiobalochi.org; www.insn.org; Kontras, WGJP Thailand; www.militaryphotos.net; asiamedia.ucla.edu

Exploring the Links: the Arms Trade, Impunity, and Political Disappearances in Asia 107

108 Justice Disappeared