What is commemorated on August 30

For more than ten years, the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance has been commemorated worldwide on August 30. This is a day when the Human Rights Commission of the UN makes a general observation of the situation of missing persons and draws attention to the search for solutions.

According to UNenforced disappearance occurs when “persons are arrested, detained or transferred against their will, or otherwise deprived of their liberty by government agents of any sector or level, by organized groups or by individuals acting on behalf of the government or with its direct or indirect assistance, consent or consent, and who subsequently refuse to disclose the fate or whereabouts of these people or to acknowledge that they have been deprived of their liberty, thereby removing them from the protection of the law. ”

Enforced disappearances are often used as a strategy to sow terror among civilians, the human rights organization explains. Decades ago, disappearances mainly took place in military dictatorships, but today they are still a mechanism used in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a method of political repression of opponents.

And even if the missing person is released, be it days, months or years after their capture, the consequences can be felt for the rest of their lives.

The UN describes it as “the physical and psychological scars of this form of dehumanization and the cruelty and torture that often accompany it.”

But missing or kidnapped people are not the only victims of these crimes. So are their families, their friends and their communities, as they slowly suffer a mental anguish, ignoring whether the victim is still alive and, if so, where they are being held, under what conditions and what their state of health is. UN report.

Added to this is the fear of exposing or investigating the truth because of the danger they are in.

The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance was born on December 21, 2010, when the UN General Assembly expressed its concern over the increase in detained, disappeared and abducted people in different parts of the world.

Subsequently, the International Convention for the Protection of All People from Enforced Disappearances was celebrated and the anniversary was implemented since 2011.

(JO)

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