Asian Federation Against 
What's Happening
Immediately Release Mr. ASM Nasiruddin Elan, Director of Bangladeshi human rights organization, Odhikar and stop the attack against human rights defenders
“The recent rejection of the bail application of Mr. ASM Nasirrudin Elan on charges similar to those filed against its recently released Secretary, Mr. Adilur Rhaman Khan only means that Odhikar is effective in its human rights reports because it unmasks the government’s false claim of complying with its human rights obligations,” AFAD Chair Mugiyanto said in a statement.
Mugiyanto recalled that it was only last August when Mr. Khan was arbitrarily arrested in his home and jailed, only to be released on temporary bail due to increased international pressure. “Now, we have to reach out for international support again for Mr. Elan and this will bring more attention to the worsening human rights situation in the country,” he further said.
AFAD, as Focal Point of ICAED
The Convention on Enforced Disappearances: The Urgency of Universal Ratification and Implementation
Room V, Palais des Nations
13:15 – 15:00 hrs, 11 November 2013
I. Inspirational Message
Mr. Alberto Pedro D'Alotto
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Mission of Argentina in Geneva
II. The Status of the CED vis-à-vis Civil Society
Professor Emmanuel Decaux
Chairperson, UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances
III. The Role of the UN WGEID vis-à-vis Universal Ratification of the Convention
Mr. Ariel Dulitzky
Chairperson, UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances
IV. The WGEID and the definition of enforced disappearances or how the WGEID is also promoting the Convention
Mr. Olivier de Frouville
Member, UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances
V. Best Practice on Campaigning for the Convention
Delphine Patetif
FIACAT Permanent representative to the UN
VI. Closing Remarks
Mary Aileen D. Bacalso
ICAED Focal Person
Moderator:
Mr. Ian Seiderman International Commission of Jurists
Filipina wins Mignone International Human Rights prize
HUMAN rights activist Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, secretary-general of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), is this year’s awardee of the Emilio Mignone International Human Rights Prize.
Bacalso said she was informed Thursday by the embassy of Argentina in the Philippines of the award “in recognition of her work against enforced disappearance in Asia and the world.”
Bacalso will travel to Buenos Aires on Dec. 10 to receive her award in a ceremony to be attended by Argentinian government officials. Aside from her funded travel to Argentina and a plaque, Aileen will also have speaking engagements in different organizations.
Bacalso said “I will be honored to receive this prestigious award soon which will be given not only to me but also to the disappeared and their loved ones and the rest among us in this bigger global movement against enforced disappearances. Let this be an important victory for the cause of the disappeared and their families in the Philippines, in Asia, in Latin America and in the rest of the world.”
Keep the Faith! We are with you in Seeking Justice for your Disappeared Loved Ones!
On the 23rd anniversary of the Day of Disappearances at the Monument of the Disappeared in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Secretary-General of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Mary Aileen Bacalso, calls on the families of the disappeared to “keep the faith and persist in the struggle for justice of their loved ones.”
Ms. Bacalso lauds the women, men and children who are gathered today at the Monument of the Disappeared for their steadfastness to seek justice even under an increasingly repressive government. “We know how difficult your situation is, because you are confronted not only with the economic and psycho-emotional effects of the disappearance of your loved ones, but also the increasing repression of human rights under the present Rajapaksa government. making you vulnerable to arrest, detention and also enforced disappearance in the course of finding justice,” Ms. Bacalso adds.
