- Category: Statements
10 October 2017
The Asian Federation against Enforced Disappearances (AFAD) congratulates Odhikar Bangladesh on its 23rd founding anniversary. Odhikar which means “rights” in the Bangla language has been in the forefront of the struggle for human rights in Bangladesh for 23 long years. The precarious and high risk political situation in Bangladesh has not been an obstacle in your fight for a democratic country where rights are respected and protected.
- Category: Statements
Statement from Odhikar
Dhaka, October 09, 2017: Odhikar commemorates its 23rd founding anniversary on 10th October. It was established on this day in 1994 with the vision of a society based on the rights and responsibilities of State and citizens. Odhikar is striving to achieve this goal through human rights activities, based on the foundations established by principles of justice and rule of law, international declarations, conventions and treaties. For 23 years, has been diligently working to protect and promote the rights of the people through awareness, documentation, monitoring, research and advocacy.
- Category: Statements
30 August 2017
Official Statement on the International Day of Enforced Disappearance
It has been 69 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a milestone document in the history of humankind, was put in place on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France. And yet, the world has not rid itself of one of the worst forms of human rights violation - enforced disappearance (ED). As of 2016, the UN has been considering 43,250 outstanding cases of ED in countries, a figure which is below the actual number of cases, many of which have been underreported due to various reasons.
- Category: Statements
Free Masood Janjua! Stop torture and injustice!
This had been a battle cry of many Pakistani human rights defenders and human rights organizations all over the world. It has been 12 years of endless search and investigations for the disappeared Pakistani educator, businessman and philanthropist Masood Janjua.
- Category: Statements
AHRC-STM-XXX-2017
17 July 2017
A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and Odhikar, on the Day of International Criminal Justice
BANGLADESH: Affording justice to victims is not on the State’s agenda
Hong Kong/Dhaka/Manila; 17 July 2017: One of the three main goals of Bangladesh’s War of Independence was ‘social justice’ coupled with ‘equality’, and ‘human dignity’. The word ‘justice’ connotes ‘just behavior or treatment’ without any bias or discrimination. In another word ‘justice’ is a guaranteed process of addressing a citizen’s grief, by all means, through the justice mechanisms and administrative systems of a State beyond any abuse of power or negligence. The Institutions that are expected to uphold justice require capabilities to ensure that the victims of crime and the victims of abuse of power are dealt with fairly in accordance with the right to a fair trial.
- Category: Statements
You came to us as God’s precious gift
As a friend; a retreat master;
A co- rallyist during Marcos’ darkest years;
A good shepherd to the little ones of God’s flock;
A spiritual adviser and an ardent follower of Christ Jesus,
The Most Holy Redeemer....
- Category: Statements
A Call for Solidarity on the International Torture Survivors’ Day
26 June 2017
"... Most of them lived the rest of their lives in the detention centers, hooded or blindfolded, forbidden to talk to one another, hungry, living in filth. The center of their lives - dominating the memories of those who survived - was torture. They were tortured, almost without exception, methodically, sadistically, sexually, with electric shocks and near-drownings, [some burried to their necks and left in the sun and the rain for days. They were] constantly beaten, in the most humiliating possible way, not to discover information - very few had any information to give - but just to break them spiritually as well as physically, and to give pleasure to their torturers."[Ronald Dworkin, in the introduction to "Nunca Mas, Argentina "]
- Category: Statements
4 June 2017 – Nineteen years ago, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) was founded in Manila, Philippines by the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND, Philippines), the Association of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (APDP, in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir) and the then Organization of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared (OPFMD, Sri Lanka).
Today, AFAD has grown into a Federation of 14 member-organizations from 10 countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and with individual members in Laos and in Switzerland.