Tolbert to UN Security Council: Justice for the Missing and the Disappeared Crucial to Preventing Recurrence of Conflict

02/03/2016

Seeking justice for victims of enforced disappearance is crucial to building peace and preventing recurrence of violence in societies emerging from conflict, ICTJ President David Tolbert told members of the United Nations Security Council and other diplomats last week.

“On a societal level, the consequences of large-scale disappearances are catastrophic: destroying civic trust, poisoning peaceful coexistence between different groups, and undermining efforts to build a society based on rule of law,” said Tolbert. “The question is then how to vindicate the rights of the victims and begin to repair trust in a state that has failed to protect or actively violated those rights in the most fundamental ways.”

Tolbert was speaking on a panel at a special “Arria-formula” briefing organized by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). Arria-formula meetings are informal gatherings that allow members of the Security Council to engage in dialogue and hear from invited organizations and government representatives on issues relevant to the work of the council.

Tolbert was invited to participate in the January 27 meeting to provide insights on how transitional justice measures can help account for individuals missing or disappeared as a result of conflict.

Other speakers included ICMP Chairperson Thomas Miller, who stressed that it is “imperative that accounting for the missing is understood to be a cornerstone of peacebuilding.”

“Around the world today there are millions of families who do not know the fate of a missing loved one – and this means millions of reasons for fear, for anger, and for alienation,” said Miller.

Sister Consuelo Morales of Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos (CADHAC) briefed the Council on her organization’s efforts to locate missing persons in Mexico. Noting the complex nature of the issue, she called for governments, civil society, and victims’ families to work together.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein discussed the often international nature of abductions and disappearances and how they can impact international peace and security. He cited accountability as vital for both preventing disappearances and for providing victims’ and their families with redress.

The high commissioner also urged diplomats to meet with victims’ families in order to gain a true appreciation for the impact of the crime.

The impact of disappearances was also discussed by Tolbert, who noted that while the majority of the disappeared are men, women related to those men suffer continued harm as a result. For example, they are often unable to claim inheritances because of the lack of a death certificate.

Prior to the meeting, ICTJ published a new report on enforced disappearances and missing persons in Lebanon. The report analyzes Lebanon’s readiness to establish an independent commission to investigate the over 17,000 disappearances that occurred during the country’s civil war and lays out the features of a successful future commission.


PHOTO: Panelists at the "Arria" format United Nations Security Council meeting on missing persons on January 27, 2016. (Pauline Dowdall/United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations)