International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, 30 August 2026
“There’s a feeling of uncertainty about a lost family member. For me, I need to know for sure whether I’m a widow or still married. I don’t know.”
–women researcher from Timor-Leste–
Jakarta, Indonesia, 30 August 2026 — On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) remembers the thousands of people who disappeared during periods of conflict and authoritarian rule in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, and families who continue searching for them.
In Indonesia, the disappearances took place during the political upheaval and massacres in 1965/66 by the New Order regime to instill fear, suppress dissent and consolidate political control. In Aceh, Papua and East Timor (now Timor-Leste), disappearances became systemic tools of counterinsurgency. The legacy of the disappearances related to the 1965/66 massacres and the occupation of Timor-Leste has never been fully addressed. Truth-seeking and justice efforts remain sporadic and unfulfilled, and survivors were often left without recognition, truth, and justice.
AJAR’s participatory research in 2025, in collaboration with Global Learning Hub for Transitional Justice and Reconciliation, explored the gendered impacts of the search for victims of enforced disappearances through the eyes of “women searchers”.
The research report, In the Shadow of Absence, Women Searching for the Disappeared in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, emphasizes that enforced disappearances in both Indonesia and Timor-Leste remain an unresolved legacy of past conflicts and authoritarian rule. In both countries, search efforts to locate the disappeared have been dominated and led by women, given that the majority of victims of enforced disappearance cases are men. The research uses participatory methods developed over years of working with survivors and uncovers how searching disrupts women’s lives, especially in the economic, social and emotional spheres, and how to navigate stigma, state inaction and deep personal grief.
Six women searchers from two countries participated in a three-day workshop to share their experiences of searching for the disappeared, as well as their knowledge of historical and political events. Their experiences illustrate the specific obstacles confronting women searchers and contribute to broader debates on truth, justice and gender in transitional justice processes. The workshop employed several participatory exercises developed by AJAR over several years, including AJAR’s Stone and Flower publication.
The research shows that women are often forced to take on this responsibility in the absence of effective state action. Women’s relentless pursuit of justice comes at great social, economic, and psychological cost. For the social and economic impacts, women searchers often faced job loss, social ostracisation, and exclusion, while stigma and background checks further limited employment and scholarship opportunities.
Women also described significant emotional and psychological burdens from searching for their loved ones. Some worried their efforts affected their children, while others struggled with ambiguous loss and limited family support. They were also sometimes labelled troublemakers or mentally unstable for seeking justice, undermining their confidence and participation in organisations. Lastly, women who shared stories of their search for the disappeared were further complicated by widespread gender-based discrimination and violence. Some experienced harassment when seeking work because of their experiences of sexual abuse, while others faced overprotective families and gender-discriminatory comments intended to discourage them from continuing their work in human rights organisations.
Under the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) and ICPPED (International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance), states have a duty to prevent enforced disappearances, investigate such cases, actively search for disappeared persons, and provide support and assistance to their families. However, neither Indonesia nor Timor-Leste is a party to the ICPPED, there is no domestic legal framework in either country to criminalise enforced disappearances and no definitions of victims of enforced disappearances and ways to protect them. Lack of regulations on enforced disappearances increases women’s vulnerability as they receive no protection during search processes.
Commitments yet to be fulfilled
The Government of Indonesia National Report to the 41st UPR Cycle – Indonesia in 2022 has ratified 8 of 9 international human rights instruments. Regarding the recommendation to ratify the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED), a national process is underway whereby the Government of Indonesia has submitted the ratification bill to the House of Representatives.
The Government of Timor-Leste acknowledged that the ratification of ICPPED is one of the UPR recommendations from the 2nd and 3rd cycles of UPR Timor-Leste, where the Government of Timor-Leste, through its national report during the 40th session to the Working Group on UPR in 2022, admitted that the country has committed to ratifying the convention.
The voices and experiences of victims and families of the disappeared must remain at the centre of all efforts to address enforced disappearances. They must be recognized as active participants in processes concerning their right to truth, justice, reparation.
We call on the states of Indonesia and Timor Leste to:
- Establish dedicated commissions on disappearances in both countries.
- Develop legal protections for human rights defenders, including women searchers.
- Provide reparations that include gender-based psychosocial and care services, such as counselling services for trauma due to loss.
- Establish a conditional dual-status scheme or 10-year visa-free status for “stolen children” in Indonesia, while also recognising the inheritance rights of Timorese children in Indonesia and vice versa.
- Form a joint forensic team, prioritising locations where there are strong indications of human remains.
- Support and conduct memorialisation efforts, including public education, in consultation with the families of victims.
- Ensure representation of women searchers in developing agendas, not just as “service recipients” in civil society organisations, and provide updates in advocacy or legal processes by truly listening to the needs of victims.
- Underscore the need for holistic care that integrates legal aid with psychosocial, financial and memorialisation support and treats victims and families as active participants rather than objects of litigation or advocacy efforts
- Both countries should urgently ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to strengthen legal frameworks, ensure accountability and align with global human rights standards.
To read full research report, In the Shadow of Absence, Women Searching for the Disappeared in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, please visit here.