- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), together with its Nepali member organizations, Advocacy Forum (AF) and Conflict Victims’ Society for Justice (CVSJ), expresses deep solidarity with the youth, students, and citizens of Nepal who are facing violent repression for exercising their democratic rights.
- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), together with its Indonesian member organizations: the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of
Violence (KontraS) and the Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI), stands in solidarity with workers, students, and citizens across Indonesia who are facing violent repression for exercising their democratic rights.
- Category: Statements
On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) stands in solidarity with families of the disappeared across Asia. For decades, enforced disappearance has been used to silence dissent, criminalize human rights defenders, and instill fear in communities. It remains one of the gravest crimes committed by states, leaving families in perpetual anguish, trapped between hope and despair.
- Category: Statements
Today, on International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, eight human rights and civil society organizations highlight the systematic failure of the Pakistani authorities to stop enforced disappearance and provide truth, justice and reparations to victims and families of the disappeared in Pakistan.
- Category: Statements
The last fifty years has been turbulent, even traumatic for Sri Lanka. Two uprisings in the South led by Sinhala youth (1971, 1987-89) and a 30-year civil war led by separatist Tamil groups in the North wreaked havoc on the country. While there is no official total count of the killings or disappearances, the estimated figure could be as high as 150,000 to 200,000.
- Category: Statements
In commemoration of the 2025 International Day of the Disappeared, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) demand the Indonesian legislative to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) and the Indonesian security forces to end the practice of enforced disappearance.
- Category: Statements
Urge the Lee Jae-myung Government
On the eve of the UN-designated International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (August 30), we gather to deliver our urgent appeal to the Government of the Republic of Korea and the international community.
For decades, North Korea has systematically carried out enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of South Korean POWs, abductees during and after the Korean War, South Korean citizens, and North Korean escapees. The 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK (COI) concluded that these state-organized abductions and non-repatriations constitute crimes against humanity, estimating more than 200,000 victims.
- Category: Statements
On the International Day of the Disappeared 2025, we honor the courage of families who continue to speak out.
Letters written by victim families remind us of the pain, resilience, and unyielding demand for justice that this day represents.
Read the full letters here:
2) Letter by Mallika Amma, wife of a disappeared, a Sinhalese from Galle District, South, Sri Lanka
3) Letter by Ibrahim Abdullah, son of a disappeared, Pakistan
5) Letter by Chandrakala Upreti, wife of the Disappeared, Banke, Lumbini Province, Nepal
6) Letter by Anisha Islam Insha, Daughter of disappeared, Ismail Hossain Baten, Dhaka, Bangladesh