25th International Day of the Disappeared

  • Published on 29/08/2008
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When the world misses its history lesson

By Javier Zuñiga, Amnesty International

When Maria Victoria Cruz Franco saw her babies being born she probably didn’t imagine she would spend most of her life trying to find them. Ernestina and Erlinda where only seven and three years old when El Salvador was going through a deadly internal conflict. It was 1982 when the army captured them in the context of a military operation and made them vanish forever.

Maria Victoria never heard of her girls again. Over 25 years after that tragic day, she still doesn't know what happened to her daughters. Maria Victoria knocked on all doors, both in El Salvador and abroad, but nothing changed. Nothing was investigated. No one was brought to justice.

Thousands of miles away, in Pakistan, lives Amina Masood Janjua. Her life today is not so different from that of Maria Victoria in El Salvador back in 1982. The last time Amina saw her husband, Masood Ahmad Janjua, was on 30 July 2005 when he left home to meet his friend Faisal Faraz. According to eye witnesses both men were detained by Pakistani security forces while on a bus journey. Amina never saw or heard of Masood since she said goodbye to him when he left home, although people said they've seen him in a secret detention centre, being held by Pakistani authorities without charge or trial.

No one knows whether Ernestina, Erlinda or Masood are alive or dead. Whether someone killed them or if anyone is holding them captive and torturing them. Nobody knows. They have, quite simply, "disappeared".

Ernestina, Erlinda and Masood are just a few examples of a terrifying criminal trend that is taking place across the world, today as much as 25 years ago.

The stories of thousands of people whose whereabouts are simply unknown have been documented by the United Nations and Amnesty International in more than 80 countries since the 1980s. In 2007 alone, thousands of allegations of enforced disappearances were documented in 29 countries.

For many, the practice of enforced disappearances started with the Latin-American military dictatorships. But in 25 years, many things have changed.

The government practice of taking people and holding them in secret has evolved and spread as more countries accept and justify this crime in the name of "the fight against terrorism". On 6 September 2006, US President George W Bush confirmed that the CIA was operating a programme of prolonged incommunicado detention in secret locations, a practice which has involved governments around the world to varying degrees. Those held in the programme are victims of enforced disappearance – they are being held without anyone knowing where they are, at risk of torture and dead. This programme was reauthorized by President Bush in July 2007.

Enforced disappearances were rare in Pakistan, Amina's home, before 2001. But after the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, detentions were justified in the name of the US-led "war on terror". Then the practice spread to activists involved in pushing for greater ethnic or regional rights, including Baloch and Sindhis.

But there is something you can do to stop this hideous crime once and for all. A day like today, 25 years ago, the Day of the Disappeared was established by the United Nations for the world to remember those who have been, and are, victims of enforced disappearances. Today, the United Nations and many organizations like Amnesty International are promoting the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

This convention – although at first sight only a paper – would be a great first step to achieve justice for the thousands who are still looking for their missing relatives and for those who are held in secret and might be suffering grave abuse today.

If it was ratified and adopted by all governments, it would prevent crimes such as those against Ernestina and Erlinda from going unpunished, it would help Amina find her husband and it would remind other governments that holding people in secret is illegal.

This convention would make those authorities think twice before committing this crime or helping others to do it.

Visit the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances website to join Amnesty International in being part of this global fight against disappearances and to help people like Maria Victoria and Amina find justice for their loved ones. Let's make governments learn from their mistakes and make disappearances a thing of the past.

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