The International Day of the

Disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the intent of placing ...

, on August 30 of each year, is a

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

created to draw attention to the fate of individuals

imprisoned Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

at places and under poor conditions unknown to their relatives and/or legal representatives. The impulse for the day came from the

Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...

''(Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos,'' or FEDEFAM), a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

founded in 1981 in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

as an association of local and regional groups actively working against secret imprisonment,

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

s and abduction in a number of Latin-American countries. Work on secret imprisonment is an important part of the activities for a number of international bodies and organizations in the fields of

human rights activism A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

and

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

, including for example

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

(AI), the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

(OHCHR) and the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

(ICRC). The International Day of the Disappeared is an opportunity to highlight these institutions' work, increase public awareness, and to call for donations and volunteers. Of those agencies, the ICRC has additional privileges due to its special status as a non-governmental sovereign entity and its strict policy of

neutrality Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

. In some cases, the ICRC is the only institution granted access to specific groups of prisoners, thereby enabling a minimum level of contact and inspection of their treatment. For affected families, messages transmitted by the ICRC are often the only hint about the fate of these prisoners. Visiting those detained in relation to conflicts and enabling them to restore and maintain contact with their families, is a very important part of the ICRC's mandate. But the definition of the Missing or the Disappeared goes far beyond the victims of enforced disappearance. It includes all those whose families have lost contact as the result of conflicts, natural disasters or other tragedies. These missing may be detained, stranded in foreign countries, hospitalized or dead. Through its tracing services and working with the 189 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world, the ICRC seeks to obtain information about their fate on behalf of their families. It reminds governments and other groups of their obligations to respect the families' right to know the fate of their loved ones. It also works with families of the missing to help them address their particular psychological, social legal and financial needs. Imprisonment under secret or uncertain circumstances is a grave violation of some conceptions of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

as well as, in the case of an armed conflict, of

International Humanitarian Law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

. The

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

adopted a

Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance Declaration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Declaration'' (book), a self-published electronic pamphlet by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri * ''The Declaration'' (novel), a 2008 children's novel by Gemma Malley Music ...

as resolution 47/133 on December 18, 1992. It is estimated that secret imprisonment is practiced in about 30 countries. The OHCHR Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has registered about 46,000 cases of people who disappeared under unknown circumstances. On August 30, 2007, hundreds of

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

relatives and supporters of desaparecidos, mostly activists, missing after being abducted or killed by Philippine security forces protested against the government to mark International Day of the Disappeared. Edita Burgos remembered her missing son, Jonas, a member of the Peasants' Movement of the Philippines. ITH, Hundreds protest in Philippines against abductions
/ref> On August 30, 2008, the

International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances The International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) gathers organizations of families of disappeared and human rights NGOs working in a nonviolent manner against the practice of enforced disappearances at the local, national and i ...

, which gathers family member organizations and human rights organizations from around the world, joined hands for a global campaign event to promote the ratification of the

International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to prevent forced disappearance, which, as defined in international l ...

External links

AFAD Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051102233415/http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/disappearance.htm Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance
International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP)

* ttp://demandjusticenow.org/enforced-disappearances/ Amnesty International - Work on Enforced Disappearances

References

{{reflist Civil awareness days August observances Human rights Enforced disappearance