Assistance and support
Recognising the phenomenal work that APDP has been doing, in 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released an annual grant UNVFVT in favour of the APDP. This followed the visit of the APDP Chairperson Ms Parveena Ahangar to Geneva in November 2008, to attend the 86th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced / Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), Vrinda Grover, an advocate and human rights lawyer, based in Delhi, accompanied her. Six cases of Enforced / Involuntary Disappearances from Kashmir were also submitted to the WGEID. The grant is primarily a socio-economic assistance grant.
Main Objective of the project is to Strengthen APDP to provide legal, psychosocial, medical, social and livelihood support to families of victims of enforced disappearances and to advocate for ratification of UN Convention against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNCED) by India as well as to end impunity for enforced disappearance under the Indian Criminal Law. Besides the project is also aimed at building institutional as well as staff capacities of APDP to enable them for setting up systems for documenting the cases of enforced disappearances in the state and providing every kind of support to their families.
APDP is the only organization in the Kashmir region that deals with enforced disappearance and has taken the issue to the national and international levels, it is essential to strengthen the organization’s systems, processes and its human resources so that it can help more number of victim families effectively and systematically.
Type of assistance provided under the UNVFVT supported project are:
Medical Assistance:
Under the UNVFVT programme, the
APDP had set a formal mechanism for medical support to the
family / relatives of the victims of enforced / involuntary
disappearances. Identification and classification of needs
for medical support are assessed and formal tie-up with
medical professionals / doctors of different medical streams
like Gynacology, Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurology,
Orthopaedic, psychiatry, ophthalmology, etc.,and hospitals
are being identified and carried out for providing emergency
medical care. Medical consultation to the families /
relatives of the victims are be provide on district levels.
The medical consultations are being followed-up with
diagnostics, like ECGs, MRIs, USGs, X-Rays, Ultra Sounds,
different laboratory tests and other medical analysis, as
recommended by the doctors for and remedial measures. These
victims are then provided medicines and other life saving
drugs, as prescribed by the doctors. The assistance for
medical consultations, diagnostics and medicines are
provided to the victims as per doctors advise. This
assistance to a beneficiary often continues for 8 to 12
months. Some of the beneficiaries, who are advised surgeries
by the doctors, are provided assistance accordingly. Formal
tie-up with medical professionals and hospitals for medical
help on subsidized rates is being taken care of by APDP,
under the programme.
Most of the beneficiaries, family
members / relatives of the victims of enforced / involuntary
disappearances are suffering from trauma / psychological
problems. Specialist psychiatric professionals have been
identified by the APDP for providing psychiatric help and
support to these beneficiaries. These professionals do also
train some resource persons, who are essentially from the
families of the victims, so that they can utilize it in the
form of psycho-social counseling to the families of the
victims in different districts of the state. The services of
the resource persons are utilized to train other such
victims in the field. The resource persons work as
counselors and organize group meetings, which in turn
provide a platform for individual and group interactions at
district and village levels. APDP also invite experts in
Psycho-Social counseling from other parts of India to hold
workshops and therapy sessions and engage professionals for
special therapy and counseling sessions with children and
the elderly. The core group of APDP also provide
psycho-social counseling to the beneficiaries.
Under the UNVFVT program, APDP
is tying up with different schools and colleges in different
districts of the state to provide education to the children
in the families of the victims of enforced / involuntary
disappearances. The assistance primarily include admission
fees, monthly tuition fee and other dues, Uniforms, Books,
Stationary, bags, Lunch Boxes, Water Bottles and other
educational materials, as per requirement. It is also made
sure that school dropouts in these families join back their
schools.
Legal Assistance - Training to
para- legal workers (young lawyers or law students) in
documenting and classifying cases, providing legal advise to
victim family and follow-up filed cases - Documenting and
classifying cases to identify different needs of legal aid
and advise on legal assistance - Setting up mechanisms and
develop institutional capacity to strengthen and formalize
the ongoing legal assistance to the victim families through
formal tie up with legal experts, bar council and human
rights lawyers - Assist victim families in filing cases and
following up their cases - Organize workshop/ seminar on
strategic advocacy measures for fair and speedy trial of
victims through transparent and effective mechanisms -
Helping the families of the victims to get FIRs registered
with concerned police station. - Organize workshop/ seminar
on Ratification of International Convention for Protection
of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances signed by India
and inclusion of enforced disappearance as a criminal
offense in the Indian Criminal Law - Survey for
socio-economic status and needs as well as legal cases of
victim families in the affected district of Kashmir valley -
Advocacy campaign, petitions and appeals for a) provision of
an impartial judicial commission of inquiry and the judgment
and sanction of those responsible for the crime, b)
formulation of legal norms classifying enforced
disappearance as a Crime against Humanity, c) Opposition of
impunity measures for alleged perpetrators of enforced
disappearance, - Publication of report on socio-economic
profile, legal battles and tortures faced by the victim
families
Financial Assistance:
As there are a number of families
wherein the victims of enforced disappearance have left
behind old aged parents, who are living alone with no
earning members in these families. APDP, under the UNVFVT
project provides assistance in the form of livelihood
support viz. emergency shelter, food, beddings, and other
essentials. Funds are also disbursed against paid bills,
receipts and bus tickets. Wherever possible, bills are being
paid directly to hospitals, schools, other vendors.
