MANILA – The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance (ICAED) reports that the Philippines is one of the countries where impunity persists in cases of enforced disappearance: Thousands of cases remain unresolved and perpetrators remain unpunished. 

“Every mother, every family of the disappeared lives in a prison of uncertainty. Our loved ones are gone but our fight for them is not. The international community must stand with us in ensuring that enforced disappearance ends once and for all,” said Edita Burgos, president of ICAED and mother of disappeared activist Jonas Burgos, in a statement released on August 30, International Day of the Disappeared.

Impunity also persists in Algeria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, and El Salvador, according to ICAED, reminding the governments that the enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity and cannot be justified under any circumstances. The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) stated that enforced disappearances in Southeast Asia is a crisis of impunity, citing Philippines as an example.

In the Philippines, there are 15 victims under the current administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who remain missing, according to the data of human rights group Karapatan. There are around 50 victims of short-term enforced disappearance. From the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., there are more than 2,000 cases in the country.

In the Southeast Asia region, only two countries have ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance: Cambodia and Thailand.

The convention is the only core human rights treaty that the Philippines has not ratified despite the repeated calls of victims’ families, human rights groups, and the international community.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan called for the ratification of the convention in her report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland earlier in the year.

Based on the monitoring of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) the following UN treaty bodies have called for the ratification of the ICPED:

• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2025 and 2016.
• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2023 and 2016
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2023.
• Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families in 2023.
• Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2022.
• Committee against Torture in 2016 and 2019.

Read: The long-overdue ratification of UN convention on enforced disappearance in PH

“As long as one person remains disappeared, ICAED will continue to speak out. We stand in solidarity with families and movements worldwide who demand to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones,” said Burgos. “The time to act is now — no more excuses, no more delays.”

Enforced disappearance, for Philippine-based rights groups, is a repressive tool to silence dissent. 

While the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law is in place, not one has been convicted since its enactment in 2012.

The crime of enforced disappearances continues and the families “face brick walls” when confronting state authorities.

Read: Search, investigations of disappeared activists marred by impunity and lack of state cooperation

“The search for the forcibly disappeared is always an uphill battle because families have to contend with a crime that, by definition, is state-perpetrated or state-sanctioned,” said Karapatan and Desaparecidos in a joint statement. 

Recently, the families received favorable court rulings that grant protective writs for them and their disappeared loved ones and hold the state forces accountable for the disappearances.

Most court rulings emphasize the failure of the government to properly conduct investigation and observe due diligence. 

Karapatan and Desaparecidos emphasized that it is “a sign that the State has repeatedly failed to comply with its obligations under domestic and international human rights instruments and a glaring manifestation of complicity.”

Read: Right(s) Up: Poor investigation of disappeared activists as human rights violation

Meanwhile, Amnesty International – Philippines believes that the government’s continuing failure to investigate enforced disappearances makes it easier for state forces to harass, attack, and red-tag human rights defenders, development workers, and members of the press. 

In unison, all the groups hold the state accountable for the enforced disappearances under their watch, especially the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“Only by forging ranks and aligning their struggle with broader efforts for social change can the families of victims gain ground in their relentless quest for truth and closure, and for justice and accountability, and realize a society where enforced disappearances have become a thing of the past,” Karapatan and Desaparecidos added. (JDS)