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

Manila, 27 June 2016 – This year marks the tenth year since the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances was adopted by the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during its first session on 27 June 2006. It was the first resolution of the UN Human Rights Council. This was a landmark victory in the history of the global struggle against enforced disappearances, which was officially offered by His Excellency Ambassador Bernard Kessedjian, head of the Working Group of the former UN Commission on Human Rights that drafted the Convention to Mrs. Marta Ocampo de Vasquez, then President of FEDEFAM and presently of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-Linea Fundadora of Argentina.

 

26 June 2016


Manila, 26 June 2016 – June 26 is recognized internationally as the United Nations International Day in
Support of Victims of Torture. On this day, in 1987, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) entered into force. On this occasion,
the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) expresses its solidarity with and
support for the many victims of torture and their families all over the world.

In all these 18 years, organizational storms in forms of threats, risks, resource constraints have not weakened, but instead strengthened further the Federation.  Its common basis of unity and the imperative of solidarity have transcended geographical boundaries and differences in many respects among AFAD’s member-organizations.  Linking arms with like-minded organizations in the region and in the rest of the world will ensure that AFAD’s voice be made loud and clear enough to be heard.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkVF4GwYsS8&feature=youtu.be

4 June 2016 – The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) commemorates its 18th anniversary.  Against the backdrop of enforced disappearances in a region wallowing in dire poverty and bereft of regional human rights mechanisms for protection, the AFAD was conceived and born in Manila, Philippines.  Initiated by the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND, Philippines), the Association of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (APDP, in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir) and the then Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (OPFMD, Sri Lanka), AFAD has grown and is now a Federation of 14 member-organizations from 10 countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and with an individual member in Laos and two in Switzerland.

 

The Federation

AFAD map