This third conference is convened eight long years after the first world congress held in Antigua, Guatemala in 2006 and four years since the huge world conference in Bogota, Colombia in 2006. Prompted by the imperative of responding to the psychosocial accompaniment needs of hundreds and even thousands of traumatized victims of human rights violations in many Asian countries that submitted the highest number of cases to the United Nations. Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, Secretary General Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) Her Welcome Message Third Psychosocial Conference in the Search for Truth and Justice for Victims of Enforced Disappearance, Torture and Extrajudicial Execution 17th to 20th July 2014 Bayview Park Hotel, Manila, Philippines The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance, the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance ; the Balay Rehabilitation Center; Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the Medical Action Group and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates welcome you to this Third Conference on Psychosocial Support in the Search for Truth and Justice for Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Extrajudicial Execution. We are relieved that the typhoon Glenda that hit Metro Manila and some Luzon areas yesterday failed to prevent the arrival of our guests from Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Timor Leste, Colombia and Guatemala, although some flights from Timor Leste and Thailand were cancelled, causing absence and delays of other participants. This third conference is convened eight long years after the first world congress held in Antigua, Guatemala in 2006 and four years since the huge world conference in Bogota, Colombia in 2006. Prompted by the imperative of responding to the psychosocial accompaniment needs of hundreds and even thousands of traumatized victims of human rights violations in many Asian countries that submitted the highest number of cases to the United Nations, AFAD and the rest of the co-sponsoring organizations responded, but not without difficulties, to the challenge of our Latin American colleagues to take on the task of convening this conference. We are happy that finally, we are able to do it today amidst the threat of typhoon Glenda, the funding challenge and many other perceived impediments. Earlier congresses led to the elaboration of a document on the Minimum Standards of Work with Focus on Psychosocial Work for Enforced Disappearance and Grave Human Rights Violations, which was analyzed by a new international committee of validation. It resulted in the formulation of the World Consensus on Principles and Minimum Norms on Psychosocial Support in the Search and Forensics Investigations of Cases of Enforced Disappearances and Arbitrary and Extra-Judicial Executions. This will be the main document that would serve as bases of our inter-change of experiences in the next three days. How has this document been so far implemented in Latin America and perhaps in other regions? How do we particularize it here in the Philippines and the rest of Asia with huge numbers of human rights violations but almost bereft of strong regional and national instruments for protection? Our Latin American colleagues say that this conference is for us here in Asia and we take lessons from the rich Latin American experience in holding this conference. Definitely, our gathering here is small as compared with the first two world congresses. The challenge of fund raising was huge in a situation when funds for human rights activities are becoming more and more difficult to find that even the UN Voluntary Funds for Victims of Torture had to disapprove our proposal and all other proposals on conferences due to the financial crisis of the UN. With less countries represented here, we are reluctant to call this the Third World Congress, and thus we said, third conference….. as we do not represent the rest of the regions of the world. Nevertheless, we are a significant number here coming from the Philippines, other Asian countries and with the accompaniment of our Latin American sisters and brothers who are here today. Hence, we are confident that with the wealth of experience, we have in terms of the human rights situation as well as our responses to the situation particularly in the Asian region, we will be able to give justice to the paper on the Minimum Standards for the Search for Truth and Justice for Victims of Human Rights Violations in Asia and the rest of the world. We are certain that our interchange of human rights situations and related personal testimonies, of consequent pains and hopes, of concrete experiences and expertise will go a long way towards full psychosocial accompaniment to the already traumatized victims of human rights violations in the whole process of search for truth, justice, redress, memory and guarantees of non-repetition. Doing so, we ensure the prevention of re-traumatization of victims and help facilitate empowerment as they tread the less trodden path of attaining truth and justice in the context of harsh repression, human rights violations and consequent pain.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 11:21:42 +0000
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