please, just close your eyes and imagine ---enforced disappearance is a grave human rights violation and a crime...amnesty international defines an enforced disappearance as the detention of someone by the state or its agents, when the authorities deny that the victim is in custody or conceal what has happened to them...enforced disappearances have occurred across the world - in sri lanka, russia, el salvador, morocco, iraq, thailand, pakistan, bosnia, equatorial guinea, egypt and argentina, to name a few...no one is immune; victims have included men, women and children...
an enforced disappearance violates the rights of both the disappeared person and their relatives...disappeared persons are denied the right to a proper arrest and to a fair trial...they may be tortured, detained in poor conditions and eventually killed...the relatives of the disappeared persons suffer anguish every day, not knowing what has happened to their loved one; they are victims, too...they often encounter social isolation, with relatives and neighbors being too afraid to offer aid or support...if the disappeared person was the main breadwinner for the family, they can also suffer economic hardship...
august 30 is observed each year by amnesty international and other activists worldwide as the international day of the disappeared...let us remember those who have disappeared and their relatives, and we take action to get disappeared persons released or charged with a recognizable crime and given a fair trial if they are still in custody...let us also seek to bring the perpetrators of enforced disappearances to justice...
this month's freedom writers newsletter features the cases of three individuals who are the victims of enforced disappearance...i'm asking you to please take action on these cases in an effort to persuade the relevant authorities to account for what has happened to these individuals and to take steps to prevent future disappearances...
To the Editor:
August 30 is observed each year by Amnesty International and other human rights activists worldwide as the International Day of the Disappeared. Enforced disappearances are when someone is detained by the government or its agents, and the authorities deny that the victim is in custody or conceal what has happened. This occurs around the world.
In Russia, thousands of people have disappeared after arrest by the security forces during the conflict in Chechnya. The Sri Lankan security forces have been responsible for tens of thousands of enforced disappearances during two decades of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. The U.S. government is also guilty of this human rights violation as some of the detainees were held incommunicado in secret CIA prisons and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Enforced disappearances violate the rights of both the disappeared person and their relatives. Disappeared persons are denied the right to a proper arrest and to a fair trial. They may be tortured, detained in poor conditions and eventually killed.
On December 20, 2006, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (the Disappearances Convention). Countries signing the treaty pledge to make enforced disappearance a crime under their national laws and to prosecute anyone responsible for this crime.
On this Day of the Disappeared, we call upon the U.S., Russian and Sri Lankan governments to ratify the Disappearances Convention, to stop all further disappearances and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
Sincerely,your name and city
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