The last four EUROMED meetings
Beirut - February 2000
Recognizing the scale of the phenomenon of enforced disappearance in the Euro-Mediterranean basin, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) organized the First Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared in partnership with the Collectif des Familles de Disparu(e)s en Algérie (CFDA) and the "Soutien aux Libanais Détenus Arbitrairement" (SOLIDA) movement. From February 7 to 11, 2000, in Paris, Geneva and Brussels, it brought together families of the disappeared and their representatives from the Euro-Mediterranean region, as well as support committees and national and international human rights NGOs.
At the end of the meeting, the need to unify the various movements fighting against enforced disappearances was recognized, in order to increase the visibility of the movement of families of the disappeared at international level, and to reinforce the work of associations fighting against enforced disappearances in the region. Participants at the meeting decided to create the Euro-Mediterranean Coalition against Enforced Disappearances. The Final Declaration of the First Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Representatives and Families of the Disappeared, drawn up on February 9, 2000, established this coalition.
The First Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared was the founding act of the Euro-Mediterranean Coalition against Enforced Disappearances. Given the success of this meeting in terms of exchanges, FEMED decided to include this activity in its action program.
Morocco - June 2008
The Second Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared on the theme of "The International Convention against Enforced Disappearance: a challenge for Euro-Mediterranean countries" took place on June 12, 13 and 14 2008 in Rabat (Morocco).
More than a hundred people took part, including representatives of associations of families of the disappeared from the Euro-Mediterranean region - Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Spain, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Serbia, Syria and Turkey - as well as experts and professors of international law, human rights activists and organizations from other regions - AFAD, FEDEFAM, FIDH, ICTJ, ICMP, HRW, etc. - who attended the conference.
The various topics discussed at the conference led to a number of observations and suggestions concerning the victims of enforced disappearance and their families, as well as the human rights movement and the political community in the Euro-Mediterranean basin.
This highly enriching conference enabled associations to meet for the first time with their counterparts from near and far. Over the three days, they were able to discuss, exchange information and plan joint actions to eradicate enforced disappearances in the Mediterranean region.
Thanks to this event, FEMED trained numerous activists on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This Convention, adopted on December 20, 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly, is an instrument that will enable us to combat this practice more effectively. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by twenty countries. The Second Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared ended with a call to ratify the Convention: the Rabat Appeal.
After the conference, a delegation - comprising Nassera Dutour, President of FEMED, Rachid El Manouzi, General Secretary of FEMED, Boudris Belaid, representative of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, Eric Goldstein, representative of the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances, and Moussa Salem, representative of the Coordination Committee of Families of the Disappeared and Victims of Disappearance in Morocco - met with Mr Liddidi, General Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, and Mr El Hajoui, General Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office.
To close this Second Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared, on June 16 2008, FEMED held a press conference on the premises of the Moroccan Human Rights Organization (OMDH) to present the progress of the conference and the meetings with the Moroccan authorities. The Rabat Appeal was also presented and distributed to the press.
Turkey - December 2009
Associations of families of the missing from all over the region took part in the meeting: Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Iraq, Cyprus, Spain and Turkey. In addition, several local and international NGOs working alongside these associations in the fight against enforced disappearances were present. Numerous international experts were invited to speak at the event. 120 people, including 60 international guests, took part in the meeting.
From December 11 to 13, 2009, the Third Euro-Mediterranean Meeting of Families of the Disappeared was held in Istanbul, Turkey. The theme of the meeting was "Transitional justice and enforced disappearances". Truth commissions are used as transitional and semi-judicial tools in countries where serious human rights violations have taken place. For most of the families of the disappeared, this is one of the solutions to be examined in order to obtain the Truth. With this in mind, the meeting was organized around interventions with theoretical and practical dimensions to educate, inform and serve as a starting point for discussions. The meeting was followed by the FEMED Annual General Meeting, attended by some forty participants.
The event was organized in partnership with local associations YAKAY-DER, Mothers for Peace, IHD and the International Center for Transitional Justice. The event would not have been possible without the support of Aim for Human Rights, the Catalan Agency for Cooperation and Development (ACCD), the Soros Foundation, the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD) and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH).
After the meeting, a delegation from FEMED and Turkish associations for families of the disappeared travelled to Ankara to meet the authorities: the Director of Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, the Director of the Council of Europe and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Vice President of the Human Rights Presidency in the Prime Minister's Office.
Beirut - November 2013
On November 23 and 24, 2013, the 4th Euro-Mediterranean meeting of associations of families of the disappeared took place in Beirut, Lebanon, on the theme of "Enforced disappearances, Truth and the fight against impunity". The meeting was organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) in partnership with its member associations in Lebanon, namely the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH), the Support Association for Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE) and the Committee of Families of Kidnapped or Missing Persons in Lebanon (CFKD).
This meeting was divided into working panels:
The first panel dealt with the "State of ratifications of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Opportunities and difficulties". The second panel focused on "The fight against impunity: definition, principles and challenges". The third panel dealt with "Duty to remember, collecting information & assessing the needs of families of the disappeared".
The willingness of some FEMED member associations to set up information-gathering programs along similar lines to the ICRC questionnaire led to in-depth discussion of the subject. For example, the need to take account of the local context, the essential need for access to families on all sides (the case of Libya was discussed in particular) and the need to take an interest in the different cases of enforced disappearance carried out in the state (ethnic, religious, political) are all elements to be taken into account in order to avoid political instrumentalization of organizations or security problems.
The fourth panel focused on "Enforced disappearances, the fight against impunity and universal jurisdiction". The fifth and final panel dealt exclusively with: "The place of women in transitional justice processes and the fight against impunity".