Conference Statement: Third Conference on Psychosocial Support in the Search for Truth and Justice for Victims of Enforced Disappearance, Torture and Extrajudicial Execution

Bayview Park Hotel, Manila, Philippines | July 17-20, 2014

Group photo of conference participants and secretariat

We gather for our Third Conference on Psychosocial Support in the Search for Truth and Justice for individual, family and community victims of enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killing and allied human rights violations cognizant of the plurality of histories, cultures, political systems, and socio-economic settings of our countries of origin. Considering these diversities, we review and validate the applicability of the International Consensus on the Minimum Standards for Psychosocial Work in Search Processes and Forensic Investigations of Cases of Enforced Disappearance, Arbitrary or Extrajudicial Executions (Minimum Standards).

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.