Bring Home Cao Shunli and Uphold Freedom of Expression in China

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately surface Cao Shunli, legal rights activist who was barred by authorities to board her plane to Geneva on the 14 September 2013. She was supposed to attend a UN-sponsored international human rights training as well as participate in the Universal Periodic Review of China scheduled on 22 October.

Cao Shunli’s case is a clear example of enforced disappearance, a violation of the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons From Enforced Disappearance (ICPAPED). As defined in Article 2 of the Convention, the crime of enforced disappearance happens when a person is arrested, detained, abducted or subjected to other forms of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State followed by a refusal to acknowledge the concealment or whereabouts of the disappeared person, placing the person outside the protection of the law.

Disappeared for Speaking on Behalf of Punjab’s Desaparecidos: AFAD Recognizes Jaswant Singh Khalra's Vibrant Legacy

September 6 marked the disappearance of the noted human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra who was picked up from outside his home in Amritsar, Punjab, in 1995, following his courageous activism around enforced disappearances in Punjab. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD) recognizes Mr. Khalra’s sacrifice for truth and the tireless efforts of his wife, Mrs. Paramjit Kaur Khalra, and the Khalra Mission Organization for Justice.

Disappearances in Punjab, in northwestern India, remain an unresolved crime and the true scale of disappearances is thus far unknown. In the 1990s, Jaswant Singh Khalra uncovered secret mass cremations in Punjab, estimating over 25,000 such cremations across the state. Almost immediately after his international trip to bring awareness around these cremations, Khalra was himself disappeared and killed. Since then, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has validated 2,097 secret cremations at just three cremation grounds of Amritsar district alone.

Release Adilur Rhaman Khan and Stop the Harassment of Members of Odhikar and its Allied Organizations!

One month after his arbitrary arrest by the Detective Branch of Police on 10 September 2013,, Adilur Rhaman Khan, Secretary General of Odhikar and AFAD Council Member remains in jail. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the Hasina Government to accord him due process in his legal recourse to freedom.

Based on our information, the Sessions Judge Court rejected the bail petition on 9 September though according to lawyers of Adilur, the charge against him under Sections 57 (1) and (2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act of 2006 is bailable. On 5 September, documents on his case were also transferred to the newly-formed Cyber Crimes Tribunal.

Families and Advocates Against Enforced Disappearance urge Asian governments to bring the Desaparecidos home

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE DISAPPEARED

On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) vows to make full use of Republic Act 10353, the Anti Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012 to bring home all Filipino desaparecidos and to exact accountability from its violators.

Republic Act 10353 or the “Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012, which was enacted into law on 21 December 2012 and whose Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) was promulgated on 12 February 2013, clearly define and penalize the act of enforced disappearance as a distinct and separate criminal offense.