Victims of Enforced Disappearances remembered in Sydney

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances was observed in Sydney on Tuesday 30 August 2022 calling on the Australian government to implement the Global Magnitsky Act.

The rally was jointly organised by the South Asian Policy Initiative and Global Voice for Humanity.

A large audience gathered in front of the NSW Parliament building, on the corner of Macquarie Street and Martin Place in Sydney CBD, to protest against ongoing occurrences of enforced disappearances in many countries worldwide.

Representatives from diverse communities, political and community leaders, human rights activists and the general public were present at the event.

This protest event was initiated by the representatives of the First Nation’s Nadeena Dixon and Uncle Dave Bell. Shibly Sohail, the South Asian Policy Initiative’s secretary, presided over the program.

Senator David Shoebridge from the Australian Greensduring his address said that Australia now has the Global Magnitsky Act legislated  and therefore the government should use this law to bring the foreign perpetrators to accountability who use Australia as their safe haven.

Senator David Shoebridge said that enforced disappearance and abduction were crimes that took place against the traditional owners of this land on the site where we stand today.

Same type of crimes taking place in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and other countries.

He further added that US has recently sanctioned the Rapid Action Batallion of Bangladesh. If Australia doesn’t prioritise human rights issues at the expense of other trivial matters, that would be a short-sighted strategy.

Former Senator Lee Rhiannon during her address said that enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity and the international community needs to take a firm stand against this heinous crime.

Veronica Koman, the representative of Amnesty International Australia, said  that her organisation is working tirelessly against these state-sponsored crimes in many countries. However, the international response is still not adequate in this matter.

Renuga Inpakumar, a representative of the Tamil Refugee Council, provided a heart-wrenching account of how the Sri Lankan Military have been torturing, abducting and killing Tamil people in the country. She said that Sri Lanka has now taken second place in terms of enforced disappearance numbers.

Mohammad Rauf, a representative of the Arakan Rohingya community from Myanmar, Amar Singh, a representative of the Sikh community from India, Anjum Rafiqi, a representative of the Kashmiri community from India, and Joe Collins, a representative of the West Papuan community from Indonesia talked about the plights, struggles and sufferings of their people by the State authorities.

Various representatives of the Bangladeshi community also addressed those present claiming that Bangladesh was now known as the enforced disappearance capital of the world.

The current regime has abducted more than 600 opposition leaders and activists over the last decade, many of whom have been not been heard from for several years.

Alongside torture, murder and other means of oppression, the Bangladesh government has been using enforced disappearance as a tool to spread fear and terror.

They described that the family members of those who have disappeared, many political leaders and activists are still waiting hopelessly for their loved ones. Children are growing older without their fathers while their parents have been waiting and some have died waiting for years for their sons to return.

The speakers at the event asked the international community to raise their voices and concerns to stop this gross human rights violation in Bangladesh and in many other countries.

Among the Bangladesh leaders, Moslehuddin Arif, Kudrat Ullah Liton, Sohel Mahmud Iqbal, Mohammad Hyder Ali, Faruk Hossain, and Rashed Khan highlighted the plight of those who have disappeared presumably under the regimes’ watch.

During the event, Rahat Shantanu sang a song, and Habib Rahman recited a poem to remember those countless victims of enforced disappearance.

At the end, Md Abdullah Yousuf, a senior member of the event organising committee, thanked all participants who had shown their concern by joining the rally.

The same day, a representative group led by Shibly Sohail and Faroque Amin submitted a memorandum to Md Ashfaq Hussain, Consul General of Bangladesh in Sydney demanding that the Bangladesh government stop the heinous practice of enforced disappearances immediately, bring back the victims and cooperate fully with a UN commission into this crime against humanity.