UN/Enforced disappearances: A decisive step for the victims of enforced disappearances

[Judi Lynn]

2/02/2007
UN/Enforced disappearances

A decisive step for the victims of enforced disappearances

An international coalition of families of the disappeared and of human rights NGO’s welcomes the announcement of the first signatures of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances. A ceremony will take place on February 6 in Paris, at the initiative of the French government. Families of disappeared persons from Argentina, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bolivia and South Africa will be present to celebrate this historic occasion.

The Convention against Disappearances was adopted unanimously on 20 December 2006 by the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations, more than 20 years after the first proposal was drafted by families of the disappeared from Latin America in 1983.

On Wednesday, 6 February 2007 at 3pm, France and Argentina will be amongst the first to sign the Convention during a special ceremony at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Louise Arbour, and family members of the disappeared.

Families’ organisations and international human rights NGO’s from all over the world are uniting to campaign for the ratification of the Convention, emphasizing the importance of this new international instrument in the fight against enforced disappearances. The new convention reinforces existing international law, codifying rights of victims to truth, justice and reparation. It also creates a new body, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention by States Parties. The Convention will come into force upon ratification by 20 countries.
(snip/...)

http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=3996

[Judi Lynn]

1. Former Argentine navy officer testifies about 'death flights' during past dictatorship

Former Argentine navy officer testifies about 'death flights' during past dictatorship
The Associated Press
Published February 1, 2007


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: A retired admiral testified in court that he authorized a counterinsurgency plan that reportedly included torturing dissidents and tossing them off airplanes during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, the government news agency reported.

The official news agency, Telam, said former Vice Admiral Luis Maria Mendia, now 83, testified in a closed court session Thursday before a federal judge probing human rights violations under the dictatorship.

Both Telam and the independent agency Diarios y Noticias quoted unnamed court sources describing Mendia's testimony and details about the plan to counter a "terrorist insurgency" — actions that have since become known as the "dirty war."

Both said Mendia acknowledged signing the plan and defended the war against "subversive and terrorist organizations." They also described details of the plan, but it was not clear if Mendia explicitly acknowledged authorizing torture and killings.
(snip)

A former naval captain, Adolfo Scilingo, testified in 1994 of taking part in flights in which drugged and naked prisoners were tossed alive into the sea. It was the first time a former military officer had so openly discussed what investigators had long suspected.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/01/america/LA-GEN-Argentina-Dirty-War.php

[MasonJar]

2. I hope that it includes the people Bush disappears.

[struggle4progress]

3. It's important. We should loudly demand US ratify.

I don't think Bush will submit it to the Senate, but we should make it an issue.

Text of the convention as pdf file