Remembering the Disappeared Without Graves to Visit…

All Souls’ Day, also known as Day of Remembrance of the dearly departed, is commemorated mostly by Catholics all over the world every 2nd day of November.  Literatures describe it as a day of “solemn feast”[1], of visiting the tombs of loved ones in the cemetery where prayers are offered along with fresh flowers and lit candles. It is a day characterized as a collective activity where families and friends gather together to remember the dearly departed.  Other cultures make the occasion festive with food, colorful altars with photos of the dead and other memorabilia.

Countries where Catholics are the majority, like the Philippines and Timor Leste, declare All Souls’ Day a national holiday so that relatives can visit their loved ones in the cemeteries.   All Souls’ Day is also called differently by many languages.  The Czechs call it “Commemoration of All the Departed”[2]. Other cultures refer to it as Day of the Dead, translated as Día de los Muertos[3] for Mexicans, Halottak Napja for Hungarians and Dia de Finados for Brazilians.  Poles regard All Souls’ Day as zaduszki,   a day when all the windows and doors are opened to welcome the spirits of the dead[4].

The Convention Against Enforced Disappearances: A Victory to Families of the Disappeared

By Mary Aileen D. Bacalso
Focal Person, International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances
(ICAED)

Side Event: Respect The Right Not to be Disappeared:
Universal Accession and Implementation of the Convention Against Disappearances
Geneva, Switzerland

His Excellency the French Ambassador to Geneva, Mr. Nicolas Niemtchinow, Chairperson, Chair of the UN Committee Against Enforced Disappearances, Mr. Emmanuel Decaux, Chair of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances , Mr. Olivier de Frouville, panellist Hugo Relva, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

Commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

Committee on Enforced Disappearances Participates in an Event Organized by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances participated this morning in an event marking the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which was organized by the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances to explore best practices and challenges to protect women from enforced disappearances.

Opening the event, Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged the particular impact of enforced disappearances on women and said that it was important not to consider women solely as victims; many had played a central role in the fight against enforced disappearances and in bringing this heinous phenomenon to the attention of the international community.

The Monument of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka: A Struggle of Memory Against Forgetting

AFAD Statement on the 22^nd Anniversary of the Monument of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) conveys its solidarity with the families, relatives and friends of the disappeared in Sri Lanka during its 22^nd commemoration of remembering and honoring the disappeared at the Monument of the Disappeared in Seeduwa-Raddolugama junction, District of Gampaha (Western Province).  This gathering is an important occasion for the relatives and friends of the disappeared to seek strength from each other in their continued search for truth and justice for their disappeared loved ones.

This is also an occasion to remind the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa of his duty to protect the human rights of its people amidst continuing rampant cases of disappearances in the country. The President, in the late 1998, was then the Minister of Fisheries.  As guest speaker of the gathering of the disappeared, he made a promise at The Monument that when he becomes President, disappearances will not be allowed. Obviously, this promise has been totally forgotten.   Worse still, he was one of the champions of the disappeared and their families during the disappearances of the late 80s and the early 90s when he co-founded the then Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (OPFMD). Ironically, during his administration as president of the country, disappearances continue unabated with each passing day.