International Day of the Disappeared is held annually on the 30th August. It provides a chance to recognise people who have disappeared through enforcement, conflict, war, inner personal issues and concerns, disasters, involuntary disappearance, modern slavery, human trafficking and for a myriad of other reasons. It is the time when family, friends and loved ones take to reflect and remember the disappearance of a close relative or friend.
I have been personally affected by this. My nephew disappeared in 2016 without a trace. My sister, mother of my nephew Rohan has had no feedback from the police – despite a thorough investigation, community and public authorities on his whereabouts. As a family we mounted a huge campaign to garner information from the public.
For my family and friends, work colleagues of Rohan, the impact has been devastating as over the years as the mental anguish has been slow, we have experienced feelings of hope for his return juxtaposed with crippling fear of venturing to explore the potential reasons for his disappearance and of any potential threats he may have had.
It soon emerges that people have disappeared for complex reasons that affects the wider community that tend to include themselves – for those who return the psychological and physical scars from being dehumanised and or tortured, family and friends who are continuously searching for the truth creating emotional upheaval, fear of exposing the person to threats and other dangers and more.
As a family, we sought support from a local and national organisation. As a Community Organiser for Sobus, I have had the privilege of working with members of the Refugee and Asylum communities. To show solidarity for the work and service of organisations committed to supporting friends and families of people who have disappeared, you could get involved in the chat on social media through #DayoftheDisappeared and to raise awareness of the work of existing organisations, see below a list of organisations.
