AFAD STATEMENT ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

February 7th, 2017 – Ten years ago today, the text of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which had been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2006, finally opened for signature on 6 February 2007. During the signing ceremony, 57 states signed.

NEW WAVE OF DISAPPEARANCES IN PAKISTAN RAISE CONCERNS

Manila, 1 February 2017 – Since the beginning of 2017, a new wave of enforced disappearances has been affecting Pakistan. According to local media, only in the first week of the month 4 activists have reportedly disappeared: Waqas Goraya and Asim Saeed (January 4, 2017); Salman Haider (January 6, 2017) and Ahmad Raza Naseer (January 7, 2017).

Defense of Human Rights

Year 2017 starts with a fresh wave of disappearance in Pakistan. At least Four activist from different part of the country have been reported gone missing in first week of January 2017. It clearly shows zero tolerance policy of the government of Pakistan for human rights activists, Journalists and any other outspoken professionals.

BANGLADESH Annual Human Rights Report 2016

Synopsis

After analyzing the contents of the 2016 annual report, it can be observed that there is a dearth of ethical and legal foundations of the government and its legitimacy is controversial, as a result of the contrived and fraudulent elections. In order to remain in power, the government has decided to use repressive ways and means, violating human rights and with disregard to rule of law. Although the influential States and development partners have verbally criticized this situation, in practice, they seemingly did not take any principle position for the sake of their business and trade interests with Bangladesh. Bangladesh ratified several international Treaties and Conventions, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).