Asian Federation Against 
What's Happening
Joint Statement on the U.N. International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance
FOLLOW THE DESAPARECIDOS,
DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
It was only three years ago that the United Nations declared August 30 as the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. For years, however, the families of desaparecidos across continents marked the day as the International Day of the Disappeared to pay tribute to their missing kin.
Today, as the world observes the Day of the Disappeared, FIND and AFAD celebrate the sterling lives of the desaparecidos as defenders of freedom and democracy and as catalysts of developmental change. In this light, we invite President Aquino to train his warning against pseudo-reformists not only on his critics but on himself and his cohorts in government first. In paying tribute to past and present-day heroes on August 25, National Heroes’ Day, the President cautioned against “those who only pretend at reform.”
The genuine pro-people struggles of the desaparecidos for societal change should inspire self-declared reformists within and without government to tread the oft-invoked but yet to be walked straight path. And the people must be vigilant against the resurrection of a dictatorship that stifles political dissent with unrestrained enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
The long road to EDSA 1 was paved by the blood and sweat of courageous political activists, at least 878 of whom have been forcibly disappeared. These include: student activist Rizalina Ilagan, college professor Charlie del Rosario, public accountant Romeo Crismo, labor and human rights lawyer Hermon Lagman, labor leader Victor Reyes, Benedictine deacon Carlos Tayag, Redemptorist priest Rudy Romano.
AFAD Statement on Banning Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso to Enter India
Mary Aileen Diez Bacalso, the Secretary General of Asian Federation Against involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) was banned to enter India on the night of 17th August 2014 at the Mumbai International Airport. Aileen Bacalso is also the Focal Person of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances with 52 members worldwide.
On 11th August, Aileen Bacalso had tried to apply for visa from the Indian embassy in Manila. While her papers were complete her application was not accepted on the pretext that time was too short but they looked at the documents and were completely aware that she was travelling on 17th August to India.
