In Asia, unexplained killings and disappearances are not unfamiliar to people who experienced authoritarian rule from the 1960s to 1980s. Members of the police and security forces have long been suspected of perpetrating these heinous human rights violations.
While political changes led to a new sense of hope that human rights would be protected and also fulfilled, much of the issues have remained. The perpetrators of human rights violations have not been held accountable to a large extent.
Data of the last ten years in some countries in Asia reveal a familiar picture: continuing trend of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
There is an unquestionable sense of impunity on the part of those who committed these crimes, fueled by the glaring absence of serious efforts to hold them accountable. There is a chilling sense of paralysis on the part of governments in facing the truth that extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances occurred and continue to occur, and that justice has not been served not only to the victims’ families but also to the country as a whole.
There is definitely a culture of violence.