'War on Terror' Puts Enforced Disappearances on the Rise

Thu., Aug. 31, 2006

Wednesday marked the United Nations International Day of the Disappeared, with the UN seeking to voice concern about "the plight of persons who have been forced to go missing."

"The Working Group is deeply concerned about the large number of reports of enforced disappearances that have been submitted over the past year. Many reports have been received of the disappearance of children and, in a few cases, of people with physical and mental disabilities," the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said in a statement Wednesday.

Amnesty International is raising awareness about enforced disappearances, particularly as they relate to the "war on terror" in South Asia. From research gathered for a report to be released later this year, Amnesty believes that several hundreds of people have become victims of enforced disappearance in Pakistan in the context of the "war on terror." Many are being held in Guantanamo Bay, while others are believed to be held in Pakistani detention with unknown whereabouts. Those released received threats not to reveal details about their detention, with some even being criminally charged.

Fears are also being raised over a pattern of enforced disappearance by state agents remerging in Sri Lanka following a new Emergency Regulation in August 2005 granting sweeping powers to security forces. The rise in detentions and disappearances in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal (which Amnesty also notes as an offender) is being viewed as a "gross violation of international human rights and humanitarian law."

To combat such disappearances, Amnesty International is lobbying for an international treaty to be adopted "by consensus and without amendment" at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly this year.