- Category: News
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
Asian Democracy and Human Rights Award
Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, Secretary-General
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Taipei, Taiwan
December 10, 2016
Her Excellency President of Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen, Chairman of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Mr. Su Jia-chyuan, President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Mr. Hsu Shu-chien, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
- Category: Statements
MANILA, 10 December 2016 - On this day, the 68th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) pays tribute to all human rights defenders (HRDs) in the world.
While disrespect for basic human rights continues to increase and victims in all parts of the globe are still fighting for truth and justice, today, in commemorating Human Rights Day, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) acknowledges and recognizes the fundamental work carried out by human rights defenders everywhere - particularly in SouthEast and South Asia.
- Category: Statements
5 December 2016
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, express serious concern over the rapid efforts by members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines to adopt a bill restoring the death penalty in the country.
On 29 November 2016, the Sub-Committee on Judicial Reforms of the House Committee on Justice, which is chaired by Congressman Marcelino “Ching” Veloso, approved a bill restoring the death penalty in the Philippines by railroading the proceedings in the committee and ignoring important questions from other lawmakers questioning the need for the legislation or its urgent passage.
- Category: Statements
Khurram Parvez, chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), was ordered to be released by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday, November 25. Parvez has been in detention under the Preventive Detention clause of the Public Safety Act of 1978 for more than two months. The ruling came after said Court gave the Indian government several chances to provide substantiating evidence for their complaint against Parvez, but to no avail. The Court ruled that the detention was “illegal” due to its continued failure to clarify the basis for the allegations against Parvez. Similarly, the Court declared that the “detaining authority has abused its powers.”
- Category: Press Releases
18 November 2016
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) strongly condemns the recent actions of the Philippine government in relation to the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
We condemn the decision of the Supreme Court, through the nine concurring justices, to allow the burial of Marcos. This burial is in direct contradiction to the demand of the victims of martial law to bury Marcos in Batac, one of the conditions that the Marcos family agreed to in exchange for their return to the country. We assert that justice must be, first and foremost, defined by the victims themselves. By disregarding the demand of the victims, the Supreme Court has become complicit to yet another act of injustice.
- Category: Statements
Today the case of Khurram Parvez, AFAD Chairperson, will be reviewed again in front of the High Court of J&K.
On this occasion, the human rights defenders participating in the 7th Asian Human Rights Forum in Sri Lanka, call for Parvez’s immediate release, and for the charges against him to be dismissed.
- Category: Press Releases
Today, the Filipino people commemorate the writing of Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, which declared the Philippines as under Martial Law. The Martial Law was a period in our history that altered the lives of so many people. The change that it brought about was not the good kind, contrary to what historical revisionists claim. The declaration legitimized the transfer to, and unfettered use of, power by President Marcos, the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus which allows for warrantless arrests, the enforcement of curfew and banning of public assemblies. What resulted from these is the systematic and widespread violations of human rights in the Philippines. Similarly, this allowed the unconstrained plundering of our nation’s resources by the Marcoses.