30 August: International Day of the Disappeared

The International Day of the Disappeared (30 August) is a reminder that a great number of people are missing as a result of conflicts around the world.

Each year, on this day we commemorate those who have gone missing in armed conflicts or other situations of violence – and remembers the plight of their families.

The impulse for the day came from the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Detained-Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, or FEDEFAM), a non-governmental organization founded in 1981 in Costa Rica as an association of local and regional groups actively working against secret imprisonment and forced disappearances 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 and humanitarian aid, including for example Amnesty International (AI), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (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. 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 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 as well as, in the case of an armed conflict, of International Humanitarian Law. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance 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.

“Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are separated from loved ones in such situations,” said Marianne Pecassou, the head of the ICRC team dealing with the missing. “The families will tell you that what they need more than anything else is to find out what happened to the person who vanished – unfortunately, in too many cases, that question may never be resolved. But they also have other needs that go far beyond this.”

Sometimes the needs stem from legal issues relating to the unresolved status of the missing person. These issues can involve such matters as inheritance, property, marital status or even the custody of children. There can also be financial needs caused by the costs involved in searching for the missing relative or in supporting the family if the person who disappeared was a main breadwinner.

However, as Milena Osorio, the ICRC’s mental health and psychosocial support adviser explains, there are often huge psychological needs as well. These can involve emotional isolation, feelings of guilt, anger, depression or trauma, and tensions among family members or with members of their communities. “The families of missing people frequently find themselves grappling with uncertainty. Most societies have religious or cultural rituals to deal with death,” said Ms Osorio, “but there is very little to help the families of missing persons.”

According to sources, more or less 2,300 persons a day have been missing throughout the world. The status of such person is unknown whether they are alive or dead.

Nothing yet has been effective enough since the laws and jurisdictions are complex ones. In some countries, facilities have been given to post the photographs of missing persons on websites, bulletin boards, milk cartons and postcards.

United Nations in its website claims that enforced disappearance is used as a tool for spreading terror within the social circles. Today, entire global community is affected because of the disappearing. Today it is largely used as a ploy to suppress the opponents of the political parties.

The families which suffer from the dilemma of enforced disappearances without a death certificate or dead body. These pacts of Silence, an unspoken agreement among those involved in the disappearances are done in various countries including Chile.

“Families have the right to know what happened to missing relatives. To find that out is their primary need, but further needs must also be addressed by governments and by organizations such as Red Cross or Red Crescent societies,” said Ms Pecassou.

On 30 August, the International Day of the Disappeared, the ICRC will unveil a publication entitled “Accompanying the Families of Missing Persons: A Practical Handbook,” which is intended to help those within and outside the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement who strive to assist the families of the missing. The 154-page manual is dedicated to “all those who have to endure the anguish caused by the disappearance of a loved one.”

The new publication complements the familylinks.icrc.org website launched last October by the ICRC to help people find missing relatives. The website also provides information on Red Cross and Red Crescent services that help people restore contact with family members in countries around the world.

“In the 10 years since the 2003 International Conference on Missing Persons and their Families, we have developed a much deeper understanding of the wide range of needs of these families,” noted Ms Pecassou. “We understand that our response to those needs, if it is to be adequate, must be holistic and multi-disciplinary. We are hopeful the new manual will provide guidance in that direction.”

In Armenia, the ICRC continues to provide the families of the missing with material assistance via micro-economic projects, such as the distribution of livestock or house renovations. Together with local partners, the ICRC also provides psycho-social support to the families, helping them to cope with the trauma of their loss.

Friday 30 August 2013