29th year of the disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano

Today is the 29th year of the disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist priest forcibly taken by military intelligence agents on July 11, 1985. He was well loved by the people, especially the urban poor, workers and farmers because he represented their concerns during the dark years of Martial Law. He was their voice in informing the government and the bigger public about their issues and demands.

Shui Meng in Manila

Upon the invitation of AFAD, Shui Meng NG, wife of the disappeared Magsaysay Awardee, Mr. Sombath Somphone of Laos will visit the Philippines from July 16 - 24, 2014 to participate in two conferences hosted by AFAD.

Members of ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, ACT NOW Against Increasing Human Rights Violations in the Region!

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to ACT NOW against increasing human rights violations in the region.

In Lao, the government remains calloused to calls from the international community to surface Sombath Somphone, a 2005 Ramon Magsaysay awardee for Community Leadership who disappeared on 15 December 2012, exactly 18 months today. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic signed the Convention Against Enforced Disappearance (CED) on 29 September 2008. It also ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on 25 September 2009.

No to Enforced Disappearances! Yes to a World without Disappeared Persons!

A Statement of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances

International Week of the Disappeared

26-31 May 2014

This week, we commemorate the International Week of the Disappeared, first initiated by the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) in 1981 and adopted by many organizations of families of the disappeared and civil society organizations world-wide. The commemoration was also meant to step up the campaign against enforced disappearances which were then at their peak during the dark years of the dictatorship in many Latin American countries. Working hard to realize the dream for a world without enforced disappearances is our most important tribute to the desaparecidos.