CLOSED: Stop disappearances

Thank you to all those who have taken this action. For more updates on the issue of forced disappearances, please visit our Terrorism, Security and Human Rights page

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In 2008 the UN reported over 1,200 cases of enforced disappearance, which is when a state detains a person without acknowledging their detention and conceals their whereabouts.

Many of these 'disappeared' face torture and death at the hands of their captors and their families are left with no idea what has happened to them.

The new UN Convention on Enforced Disappearance is the first legally enforceable treaty to deal with enforced disappearance and at last offers the chance to prevent and prosecute this terrible crime; It states clearly that there is no impunity and no excuse.

Though the UK has had the opportunity to sign this Convention since February 2007 they have not yet done so.

Please call on the UK government to sign the UN convention.

UPDATE 26 SEPTEMBER
To mark the Day of the Disappeared on Sunday 30 August local group members sent in photo-actions highlighting five individual cases of enforced disappearance.

With over 50 photographs for each case, we used the pictures to cover life-size cardboard cut-out silhouettes and created photo-petitions. To see how the petitions were used, please select from the list of cases below

Very many thanks to everyone who took action.

You can also take action on these five cases of enforced disappearance: Ernestina & Erlinda Serrano Cruz (El Salvador) Two sisters who have been missing since 1982. Ibragim Gazdiev (Russian Federation) A young man who went missing in the North Caucaus, reportedly seized by armed men in camouflage. Masood Janjua & Faisal Faraz (Pakistan) Two men who disappeared on a bus trip across the country. Several people have testified to having seen both men in detention. Sanjiv Kumar Karna (Nepal) Arrested with 10 friends while having a picnic and badly beaten. Six of his friends were released, Sanjiv and the other four haven't been heard from since. Ebrima B. Manneh (Gambia) A journalist arrested in 2006, Ebrima has never been charged and his whereabouts are unknown.

Background information

Enforced disappearance is a particularly cruel human rights violation, a violation of the person who has disappeared and a violation of those who love them and are financially dependent upon them.

Over the last 25 years the trend of disappearances has changed.  Nowadays they tend to occur in nations suffering from internal conflict. There are now over 5,500 outstanding cases of enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka. In Algeria the figure is almost 3,000.

Since 1999, it is estimated that more than 5,000 people have gone missing in Chechnya. According to the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) over 30,000 people disappeared in Bosnia during the conflict; an estimated 13,500 remain unaccounted for. In Colombia 955 cases of disappearances remain unresolved. Since 2001 increasing numbers of people are being detained under counter terror legislation and being held for lengthy periods of time without charge or trial.  In Pakistan, in 2006, human rights groups were lobbying on behalf of 563 disappeared persons.Unlike other enforced disappearances, these detainees are often not killed but they are at risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and are refused the right to a fair trial.

Thank you to all those who have taken this action. For more updates on the issue of forced disappearances, please visit our Terrorism, Security and Human Rights page

 EMAIL   LETTER   FAX 

In 2008 the UN reported over 1,200 cases of enforced disappearance, which is when a state detains a person without acknowledging their detention and conceals their whereabouts.

Many of these 'disappeared' face torture and death at the hands of their captors and their families are left with no idea what has happened to them.

The new UN Convention on Enforced Disappearance is the first legally enforceable treaty to deal with enforced disappearance and at last offers the chance to prevent and prosecute this terrible crime; It states clearly that there is no impunity and no excuse.

Though the UK has had the opportunity to sign this Convention since February 2007 they have not yet done so.

Please call on the UK government to sign the UN convention.

UPDATE 26 SEPTEMBER
To mark the Day of the Disappeared on Sunday 30 August local group members sent in photo-actions highlighting five individual cases of enforced disappearance.

With over 50 photographs for each case, we used the pictures to cover life-size cardboard cut-out silhouettes and created photo-petitions. To see how the petitions were used, please select from the list of cases below

Very many thanks to everyone who took action.

You can also take action on these five cases of enforced disappearance: Ernestina & Erlinda Serrano Cruz (El Salvador) Two sisters who have been missing since 1982. Ibragim Gazdiev (Russian Federation) A young man who went missing in the North Caucaus, reportedly seized by armed men in camouflage. Masood Janjua & Faisal Faraz (Pakistan) Two men who disappeared on a bus trip across the country. Several people have testified to having seen both men in detention. Sanjiv Kumar Karna (Nepal) Arrested with 10 friends while having a picnic and badly beaten. Six of his friends were released, Sanjiv and the other four haven't been heard from since. Ebrima B. Manneh (Gambia) A journalist arrested in 2006, Ebrima has never been charged and his whereabouts are unknown.

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