The Third Conference aims to promote and enhance the substance and articulation of the World Consensus on The Minimum Principles and Standards for Psychosocial Work in Cases of Enforced Disappearance, Arbitrary and Extrajudicial Executions, and Forensic Investigations on Serious Human Rights Violations for the implementation at the international level and its use in Asian countries. Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, Secretary General Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) 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 Conference Background Psychosocial work/support is an important response to human rights violations and to the corresponding process of the search for truth and justice. While legal interventions address these violations, interventions on the social and psychological needs of individualsvictims of these human rights violations are equally significant. Psychosocial work is understood as the individual, family, community, or social accompaniment aimed at preventing, assisting and tackling the consequences brought about by the impact of human rights violations. This is also aimed at re-establishing the integrity of the victims, promoting their welfare, providing them with social and emotional support, restoring their dignity and fostering the development of their actions as they search for truth, justice , reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. In February 2007, the First World Congress on Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes and Enforced Disappearances was held in Antigua, Guatemala with the aim of advancing the development of minimum standards and international guidance in psychosocial work. It was a venue to exchange experienceson relevant themes which served as basis for the first international consensus documentation on Minimum Standards on Psychosocial Work in Exhumation Processes for serious human rights violations.Organized by the Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team (ECAP), the First Congress, participated in by 145 persons from 30 countries of Africa, America, Asia, Europefacilitated the interchange of knowledge and experiences among individuals from distinct geographical areas, with distinct socio-political and cultural contexts. After three years, the Second World Congress was conducted on April 21-23, 2010 in Bogota, Colombia. Its principal objective was to contribute to the elaboration of international standards that incorporate a psychosocial perspective in the processes of search, identification, exhumation from ethical, technical and scientific standards and with the focus of the rights that permit the victims of enforced disappearance to re-dignify themselves and to have access to truth as part of the journey to justice and guarantees of non-repetition. The Second Congress achieved, among other things, 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. The Third Conference on Psychosocial Support in the Search for Truth and Justice for Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Extrajudicial Executions and Torture Taking reference from the achievements, challenges and recommendations of the first two world Congresses held in Guatemala and Colombia respectively, this third world conference, envisioned to be held in Asia, specifically in the Quezon City, Philippines on 17-20 July 2014 at the Torre Venezia Hotel, Quezon City. The Third Conference aims to promote and enhance the substance and articulation of the World Consensus on The Minimum Principles and Standards for Psychosocial Work in Cases of Enforced Disappearance, Arbitrary and Extrajudicial Executions, and Forensic Investigations on Serious Human Rights Violations for the implementation at the international level and its use in Asian countries. This third conference aims to: 1. Give families and victims of human rights violations in Asia full access to psychosocial support in the process of their search for truth, justice, reparation, redress; 2. Give visibility to the situation of enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial execution in Asia, a continent that submitted very high number of violations of human rights to the United Nations is bereft of strong national and regional human rights mechanisms for protection; 3. Strengthen and consolidate the Minimum Standards and its application in Asian countries; 4. Serve as a venue to make visible the campaign for the ratification by Asian States of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and its enabling mechanism/s and the Convention Against Torture especially in the Asian continent, where ratifications are very few as compared to the huge number of cases of enforced disappearances and torture in a number of Asian countries. 5. Serve as venue to exchange experiences on the implementation of the Minimum Standards in different countries and its visibility at the international level. 6. Sum-up performance on the level of implementation of the Minimum Standards since the previous congresses +and come up with updated and relevant recommendations.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 08:56:05 +0000