JOINT STATEMENT FAMILIES OF VICTIMS OF INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE (FIND) ASIAN FEDERATION AGAINST INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES (AFAD) INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF THE DISAPPEARED, 2020 25 MAY 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic cannot obliterate enforced disappearance. On the contrary, it may even exacerbate the perpetration of this global scourge.

As we kick off the International Week of the Disappeared (IWD) this year, we think of Joseph Jimeda, fondly called Dodong. On 07 May 2020, Dodong, a resident of Caloocan City left home for the Navotas City fish port to buy fish. Vending fish is his source of livelihood. His wife and children waited for him the whole day and through the night. But Dodong didn’t come home. For a week they were clueless of his whereabouts. Fear engulfed them as they anxiously searched for him. Finally Dodong surfaced with a harrowing tale to tell. He was arrested as he could not produce a Navotas City-issued quarantine pass. They then detained him along with more than 500 other alleged violators of enhanced community quarantine directives.

BANGLADESH: Government must stop enforced disappearances and provide special care to families of the disappeared during COVID-19

A Joint Statement by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asian Human Rights Commission, International Federation for Human Rights and Odhikar on the occasion of International Week of the Disappeared 2020

Dhaka/Manila/Hong Kong/Paris, 25 May 2020: To commemorate International Week of the Disappeared (the last week of May), the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Odhikar remember and pay tribute to victims of enforced disappearance and stand in solidarity with the families of the disappeared during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Press statement: Stop using Electric Tasers on Protesters- Respect Human Rights and Rule of Law

Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) expresses its serious concern on the use of electric tasers on peaceful protesters, protesting against the annexation of Lipulekh, a territory of Nepal by India, in Kathmandu Nepal. In light of series of human rights violations committed by Nepal Police during the lockdown, the most recent act of using electric shocks to take people in control and disperse the mob is a serious breach of human rights and a condemnable act. AF strongly condemns the use of electric tasers on the peaceful protesters in Jadibuti and Maitighar, Kathmandu Nepal.

AFAD-FIND JOINT STATEMENT ON CALVARY OF INJUSTICE AMID CORONAVIRUS

MANILA, PHLIPPPINES. Lent is the season when Filipinos remember Christ’s passion (his suffering and death) and resurrection.

This year, the threat of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (CoViD-19) adds to the thorny crown of suffering, the wanton flagellation of impunity, and the heavy cross of losing a loved one and the ensuing search for truth and justice for these families. The CoViD situation in the country quickly went from bad to worse that before midnight on 15 March 2020, President Duterte announced the implementation of a month-long community quarantine or, in his words, a lockdown.