Govt to issue 'disappearance certificates' for victims: UVED

The government will issue "disappearance certificates" for victims of enforced disappearance who have not returned, a platform of survivors said yesterday.

Maroof Zaman, a former ambassador and himself a survivor of enforced disappearance, made the statement after leading a delegation of United for the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (UVED) to meet Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.

He said the commission assured them that the certificates would be introduced to help families gain access to bank accounts and properties of their disappeared loved ones, many of whom have been missing for years, with no official recognition of their fate.

During the meeting, the UVED delegation submitted a list of 200 disappeared persons, demanding a full investigation into each case and urgent steps to support families and survivors. The commission called on all survivors to submit documentation so the cases could be prosecuted under the International Crimes Tribunal framework.

UVED representatives, including victims who had returned after periods of disappearance, urged the commission to take comprehensive legal, psychosocial, and institutional steps to address what they described as decades of state-led abductions and custodial abuse, particularly during the tenure of the now-ousted Hasina administration. They called for justice for survivors, compensation and rehabilitation for victims' families, and legal reforms to criminalise enforced disappearances.

The platform also pressed for holding law enforcement officials accountable for abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. They urged full implementation of the 2013 Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, ratification of the UN's Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), and repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which they said had been widely misused to justify disappearances.

In its statement following the meeting, UVED said families have the right to know the fate of their loved ones and stressed the need to restore justice and human dignity.

The platform also reiterated its long-standing demand to dismantle the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), which has faced repeated accusations from domestic and international human rights groups of carrying out extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances with impunity.