Geneva, March 18 (KMS): A preliminary report on the discovery of unmarked mass graves in occupied Kashmir, released by the International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in December 2009, has been presented on the 13th session of United Nations Human Rights Council at Geneva.

The Co-convener of International Peoples Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice and the Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, United States, Dr. Angana Chatterji, speaking on a panel entitled ‘The Global Phenomenon of Enforced Disappearances and the Entry Into Force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance’ in Geneva, demanded an independent inquiry into the enforced disappearances in the occupied territory.

She said that an independent investigation team should inquire about the correlation between the more than 8,000 enforced disappearances since 1989 with the number of bodies in unknown, unmarked, and mass graves. “Evidence from these graves must be used to seek justice through the sentencing of criminals,” she maintained.

Jeremy J. Sarkin, the Chairperson and Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, emphasised to ratify the convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in order to address institutionalised systems of impunity to the perpetrators of the rights’ violations.

The event was convened by eight organizations including the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), Euro-Mediterranean Federation Against Forced Disappearances (FEMED), Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM), Non-violence International (NVI), Philippine Human Rights Information Centre (PHILRIGHTS) and International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID). The organizations with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) also participated. »