The Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) challenges the Marcos Jr. government to put a stop to the relentless crime of enforced disappearances in the country and take to task its pronouncements on “improving” the human rights situation. Administrative Order 22 (s 2024) created the Special Committee on Human Rights Coordination to “enhance [government] mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.” Victim-families of enforced disappearance, however, demand specific and concrete actions.


In the Philippines, FIND has on record more than 40 reported cases of enforced disappearances since the beginning of President Marcos Jr.’s administration up to the present. This clearly shows the horrific truth — that enforced disappearance is a crime that the state continues to commit at present. Despite the passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10353), considered to be a landmark law making the Philippines the first country in Asia to criminalize enforced disappearance, cases have continued to mount until the present. The crime of enforced disappearance surged during the previous administration’s violent war on drugs. Sadly, it has continued until the present administration and appears to be directed to activists and those critical of the Marcos Jr. regime. In all instances, perpetrators of the crime have yet to be held accountable as families of the disappeared continue the fight in calling for the non-recurrence of the crime.


Moreover, with AO 22, FIND expects this government to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED), the only remaining core human rights convention the Philippines is yet to sign. FIND deems that accession to the convention is necessary to strengthen monitoring mechanisms and highlight the value of complying with international human rights standards, echoing Representative Edcel Lagman’s call immediately upon issuance of AO 22.


FIND issues this call as it joins all victim families in remembering and honoring the disappeared on the International Week of the Disappeared (IWD). The IWD serves as a platform for families to memorialize the lives of the activists and human rights defenders who fell victim to the heinous crime of enforced disappearance.

As a member organization of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a regional federation working directly on the issue of enforced disappearances, FIND stands with the victim-families of enforced disappearance who continue to seek the truth about, whereabouts of, and justice for their disappeared loved ones.


#internationalweekofthedisappeared2024

#StopEnforcedDisappearance


Read this statement on FIND's Facebook page.

Photo credit from FIND's Facebook page.