Release from ICAED - The International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) requests NGOs and personaltities to sign an appeal to Heads of State all around the world to urge them to ratify and implement the Internatational Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

“The convention against disappearances contains many elements to prevent, investigate and sanction the crime of enforced disappearance:” said Dave Hardy, the coordinator of the ICAED. “However, many more States need to ratify it than the current four (Albania, Argentina, Mexico and Honduras) for the Convention to realize the full protection it can offer.”

The ICAED collects signatures of personalities and NGOs between 2 and 28th of August. On August 30, which marks the International Day of the Disappeared. the appeal letter will be send to Heads of State together with ‘Existence Denied’, a photo publication showing the effects of disappearances. Additionally, global commemorations take place on every continent to honour the disappeared.

Enforced disappearances is a serious violation of human rights and it constitutes a crime against humanity. It means the kidnapping or extrajudicial detention of an individual by, or with knowledge of, government officials, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the whereabouts or fate of the disappeared. In many cases, the disappeared are tortured and finally killed, without their relatives finding out what happened to them. Enforced disappearance amounts to the denial of many human irghts including the right to life and the right to know the truth.

Disappearances are not a mere crime of the past, but instead disappearances take place all around the world at this very moment. Visit the webiste www.icaed.org for all the campaign information.