AFAD 25 Years Video Teaser

This AFAD video teaser is an opening salvo of the yearlong campaign and fight Against Enforced Disappearances and for the Protection, not Persecution, of Human Rights Defenders, across Asia.

a continuing crime
a disappearing act

What's Happening

The last fifty years has been turbulent, even traumatic for Sri Lanka. Two uprisings in the South led by Sinhala youth (1971, 1987-89) and a 30-year civil war led by separatist Tamil groups in the North wreaked havoc on the country. While there is no official total count of the killings or disappearances, the estimated figure could be as high as 150,000 to 200,000.

In commemoration of the 2025 International Day of the Disappeared, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) demand the Indonesian legislative to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) and the Indonesian security forces to end the practice of enforced disappearance.

Urge the Lee Jae-myung Government

On the eve of the UN-designated International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (August 30), we gather to deliver our urgent appeal to the Government of the Republic of Korea and the international community.

For decades, North Korea has systematically carried out enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of South Korean POWs, abductees during and after the Korean War, South Korean citizens, and North Korean escapees. The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK (COI) concluded that these state-organized abductions and non-repatriations constitute crimes against humanity, estimating more than 200,000 victims.

On the International Day of the Disappeared 2025, we honor the courage of families who continue to speak out.

Letters written by victim families remind us of the pain, resilience, and unyielding demand for justice that this day represents.

Read the full letters here:

1) Letter  by Wahyu Susilo, brother of Wiji Thukul, victim of 1997-1998 Enforced Disappearance, Indonesia 

2) Letter by Mallika Amma, wife of a disappeared, a Sinhalese from Galle District, South, Sri Lanka

3) Letter by Ibrahim Abdullah, son of a disappeared, Pakistan

4) Letter by Swastika Mali, daughter of a disappeared, Representative of the Enforced Disappearance Family, Nepal

5) Letter by Chandrakala Upreti, wife of the Disappeared, Banke, Lumbini Province, Nepal

6) Letter by Anisha Islam Insha, Daughter of disappeared, Ismail Hossain Baten, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Federation

AFAD map