Title: Calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Asia and around the world, and calling upon the United States to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution calls on the United States to support measures to assist victims of enforced disappearances around the world and ensure that alleged perpetrators of enforced disappearances are held accountable. The resolution urges China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Pakistan specifically to take steps to eliminate the practice of enforced disappearances and uphold human rights for all.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1231 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1231

 Calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Asia and around the 
 world, and calling upon the United States to ratify the International 
      Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced 
                             Disappearance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 19, 2020

   Mr. Sherman (for himself and Mr. Raskin) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
   in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Asia and around the 
 world, and calling upon the United States to ratify the International 
      Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced 
                             Disappearance.

Whereas enforced disappearances constitute grave human rights violations and are 
        a crime under international law;
Whereas the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from 
        Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) was adopted by the United Nations 
        General Assembly on December 20, 2006, and entered into force on 
        December 23, 2010;
Whereas Article 2 of the ICPPED defines enforced disappearance as ``the arrest, 
        detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by 
        agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the 
        authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a 
        refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of 
        the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person'';
Whereas, since its creation in 1980, the United Nations Working Group on 
        Involuntary Enforced Disappearances brought up 57,891 cases to the 
        attention of 108 states, and 45,811 cases remain unresolved;
Whereas the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of thousands of victims of enforced 
        disappearances around the world continue to be unknown even decades 
        after the end of conflict and repressive regimes;
Whereas the failure to clarify the fate and whereabouts of those forcibly 
        disappeared causes continuing pain and suffering to survivors and 
        victims, and hinders societal reconciliation and justice;
Whereas clarifying the fate of those who have been forcibly disappeared is an 
        essential measure of transitional justice, alongside criminal 
        accountability, truthtelling initiatives, and reparations, all of which 
        assist societies in addressing legacies of mass atrocities, ensuring 
        accountability, and preventing the recurrence of conflict and 
        atrocities;
Whereas under the International Convention on Disappearances, every victim has 
        the right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of the enforced 
        disappearance, the progress and results of the investigation, and the 
        fate of the disappeared person;
Whereas relatives of victims of enforced disappearances and members of civil 
        society often face reprisals for seeking information and justice, and 
        such reprisals are often carried out under the pretext of security and 
        counterterrorism measures;
Whereas the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 
        was alarmed by the numerous reports about arbitrary detention of 
        possibly a million Uyghurs and Muslim minorities;
Whereas most Uyghur detainees are held without or on unknown charges in several 
        facilities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the whereabouts 
        and physical condition of many remain unknown;
Whereas with the passage into law of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 
        (Public Law 116-145), it is the policy of the United States to condemn 
        the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim 
        minority groups in Xinjiang and sanction those responsible for causing 
        the disappearances of persons and the prolonged detention of those 
        persons without charges and trial;
Whereas according to Amnesty International, Sri Lanka is home to one of the 
        world's highest number of enforced disappearances, with somewhere 
        between 60,000 to 100,000 people allegedly disappeared since the late 
        1980s;
Whereas, during the 26-year civil war ending in 2009 between government forces 
        and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, tens of thousands of Tamils 
        were forcibly disappeared by the police, military, and paramilitary 
        operatives;
Whereas the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary 
        Disappearances stated in 2020 that the second-largest number of 
        unresolved enforced disappearance cases in the world before the Working 
        Group involves Sri Lanka, with the Working Group having transmitted 
        communications to the Sri Lankan Government relating to over 12,700 
        disappearance cases, of which 6,117 were still outstanding, and that Sri 
        Lankan state authorities, ``have not replied in regard to any cases'';
Whereas in 2016 the Sri Lankan Government acknowledged having received at least 
        65,000 complaints of enforced disappearances since 1995;
Whereas Sri Lanka ratified the International Convention for the Protection of 
        All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in May 2016, and passed domestic 
        legislation criminalizing enforced disappearances in March 2018;
Whereas, according to a 2020 United Nations Special Rapporteur's report, ``no 
        observable progress has been made on pending cases, including habeas 
        corpus applications into the disappearance of Tamil Tigers and members 
        of their families who surrendered during the final days of the war'';
Whereas, in January 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that ``missing 
        persons are actually dead'', without providing any evidence;
Whereas lawyers, human rights defenders, and victims involved in cases of 
        enforced disappearances face intimidation, harassment, and violence from 
        state and private actors, particularly since Rajapaksa became President;
Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka has promoted high-ranking military officials 
        suspected of forcibly disappearing persons and bearing responsibility 
        for war crimes, including Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, and has 
        failed to hold accountable other current military officials accused of 
        war crimes;
Whereas, since January 2020, the practice by the former government of issuing 
        interim relief to families of the disappeared, as recommended by the 
        Office on Missing Persons, was discontinued, putting families of 
        disappeared persons under further financial strain;
Whereas the Rajapaksa government has said it will no longer comply with the 
        United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1, supported by the 
        United States, committing Sri Lanka to truth, justice, and 
        accountability for violations of human rights;
Whereas Sri Lankan authorities are failing to effectively investigate and, where 
        there is sufficient evidence, prosecute those suspected of perpetrating 
        enforced disappearances, as recommended by the United Nations Working 
        Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances;
Whereas Tamil families of the disappeared have demonstrated tremendous courage 
        in conducting continuing protests, lasting over 1,300 days, to demand 
        answers from the Sri Lankan state, despite being met with threats, 
        intimidation, and harassment by state security forces;
Whereas the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a law that has been misused to 
        facilitate enforced disappearances, remains in use, despite the former 
        government's pledges to repeal it;
Whereas under the Government of former President Suharto, from 1967 to 1998, 
        countless Indonesians were victims of enforced disappearances conducted 
        by the military, police, intelligence agencies, and other state 
        authorities;
Whereas rather than investigate and hold those responsible for enforced 
        disappearances to account, the Indonesian Government has appointed 
        former generals allegedly involved in kidnappings and enforced 
        disappearances to senior posts in the Defense Ministry;
Whereas, during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor from 1975 to 1999, around 
        18,600 people were forcibly disappeared, as documented by the 
        independent Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) in 
        its 2005 report;
Whereas, in 2010, Indonesia signed the International Convention for the 
        Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance signaling its 
        recognition of its obligation to investigate ongoing disappearances; 
        however, it has yet to ratify the convention;
Whereas the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary 
        Disappearances has received 1,144 cases of allegations of enforced 
        disappearances from Pakistan between 1980 and 2019;
Whereas, in 2011, Pakistan established the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced 
        Disappearances (COIED) to ``trace the whereabouts of allegedly enforced 
        disappeared persons'' and ``fix responsibility on individuals or 
        organizations responsible'';
Whereas, since 2011, Pakistan's COIED has received more than 5,290 reported 
        cases of enforced disappearances carried out by state officials;
Whereas the majority of the victims of enforced disappearances in Pakistan are 
        Baloch, Pashtun, or Sindhi;
Whereas the Government of Pakistan has not adequately investigated and held 
        perpetrators of enforced disappearances responsible;
Whereas the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary 
        Disappearance has described a ``culture of entrenched impunity'' 
        regarding the practice of enforced disappearances in Pakistan;
Whereas the whereabouts and fate of over 2,000 victims of enforced 
        disappearances of citizens (Sindhis) of Sindh Province, Pakistan, remain 
        unsolved, including those of--

    (1) Aqib Chandio, 20, a student, abducted for the second time on July 
7, 2020;

    (2) Gulam Rasul Shar and Bashir Ahmed Shar, brothers, abducted in 
Karachi on August 16, 2020;

    (3) Mehran Ali Mirani, 18, a student and shopkeeper, violently abducted 
in Hyderabad, Sindh, on January 13, 2020; and

    (4) Insaf Ali Dayo, a young tailor, abducted from his shop in Larkana, 
Sindh, by a group that included uniformed military personnel on May 29, 
2017;

Whereas disappeared people who have been released have received threats, or 
        threats to their family members, to prevent them from recounting their 
        experience to media or seeking justice;
Whereas Amnesty International and other internationally recognized human rights 
        organizations have called upon the Government of Pakistan to end 
        enforced disappearances against all individuals, including Sindhis, and 
        to either immediately release the victims of enforced disappearance or 
        ensure that they are brought promptly before a judge in a civilian court 
        to rule on the lawfulness of their arrest or detention; and
Whereas according to the United Nations, states have a duty to strengthen their 
        efforts, with the support of international human rights mechanisms, to 
        prevent enforced disappearances, to search for victims, and to increase 
        assistance to victims and their relatives: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) calls for justice for victims of enforced 
        disappearances and accountability for those bearing 
        responsibility for these crimes;
            (2) calls for United States law enforcement to use all 
        available legal and statutory tools to ensure that alleged 
        perpetrators of enforced disappearances are held accountable in 
        United States courts and to ensure that the United States is 
        not a safe haven for human rights violators;
            (3) urges all countries to abandon the unlawful practice of 
        enforced disappearances;
            (4) calls upon the Department of State and the United 
        States Agency for International Development to continue to 
        support transitional justice measures and initiatives to assist 
        victims and survivors of enforced disappearances, including by 
        supporting national, international, and hybrid mechanisms to 
        clarify the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared;
            (5) urges the United States to sign and ratify the 
        International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from 
        Enforced Disappearance;
            (6) calls upon the Government of China to--
                    (A) immediately release all persons held in 
                arbitrary detention in Xinjiang, unless there is 
                sufficient credible and admissible evidence that they 
                have committed an internationally recognized offense;
                    (B) repeal or amend all laws and regulations, and 
                end all related measures, that impermissibly restrict 
                the exercise of human rights by Uyghurs and other 
                ethnic minorities; and
                    (C) allow independent and unrestricted access to 
                Xinjiang for independent human rights monitors, and 
                make the whereabouts and condition of all detainees 
                known to their families;
            (7) calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to--
                    (A) carry out effective and independent 
                investigations with a view of swiftly bringing to 
                justice those responsible for enforced disappearances;
                    (B) recommit the Government to complying with the 
                transitional justice goals and framework as articulated 
                in the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 
                30/1, and implement measures to establish the 
                transitional justice mechanisms outlined in the 
                resolution;
                    (C) end the threats and intimidation against 
                families of the disappeared, journalists, human rights 
                defenders, and lawyers engaged in cases of enforced 
                disappearances;
                    (D) consult with victims and families of the 
                disappeared, release lists of those detained since 1978 
                under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and investigate 
                and release a list of all secret detention centers;
                    (E) resume the practice of issuing interim relief 
                to families of the disappeared, as recommended by the 
                Office on Missing Persons;
                    (F) repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and stop 
                the misuse of laws, including the International 
                Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to threaten, 
                harass and prosecute dissenters, journalists and 
                activists; and
                    (G) work with the United States Government to 
                pursue those responsible for atrocity crimes and 
                ensuring that the fate of all of those disappeared is 
                determined;
            (8) calls upon the Government of Indonesia to--
                    (A) fulfill the Government's obligations under 
                international law;
                    (B) ensure that the military institution cooperates 
                with human rights and justice sector institutions, 
                including the Human Rights Commission;
                    (C) establish ad hoc human rights courts for 
                enforced disappearances in 1997-1998 and prosecute 
                those responsible for enforced disappearances and other 
                atrocities in Indonesia; and
                    (D) ratify the signed Convention for the Protection 
                of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; and
            (9) calls upon the Government of Pakistan to--
                    (A) swiftly release all citizens of Pakistan who 
                have been arbitrarily abducted and detained;
                    (B) condemn the enforced disappearance of Sindhis, 
                of any religion or association, in Sindh Province;
                    (C) work to ensure any actions taken in pursuit of 
                legitimate security threats respect the human rights of 
                all people and adhere to international human rights 
                law; and
                    (D) criminalize the practice of enforced 
                disappearances.
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