- Category: Statements
In the light of the declaration of Martial Law in Thailand, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the Thai Army under the command of Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha to uphold human rights and not subject anyone to enforced disappearance.
Article 1.2. of the International Convention for the Protection of All Person from Enforced Disappearance (Convention) emphasizes that at “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”
- Category: News
Regent Hotel, Munich, Germany -- First and foremost, in the name of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), which is the focal point of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), I would like to thank the World Uygur Congress, the Society for Threatened Peoples, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples’ Organizations and the National Endowment for Democracy for inviting me to this conference. Amidst the many tasks at hand, in the spirit of solidarity, we were honored to accept the invitation. To be honest, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a federation of organizations working directly on the issue of enforced disappearances, owing to its limited resources, still has to know more about enforced disappearances of Uyghur people. Our participation in this conference is hopefully a beginning of a more profound solidarity with the Uyghur people in the years to come.
- Category: Statements
The 2nd ICAED General Membership Conference Geneva, Switzerland, 24 – 27 March 2014
We, human rights organizations from
Belarus, Cyprus, Indonesia, Morocco, Philippines, Switzerland, Western Sahara, including the online participation of organizations from France, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Thailand, Uruguay, gather here in Geneva, Switzerland during the last week of the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council in the spirit of international solidarity to step up our global campaign for the universal ratification and full implementation of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
- Category: Statements
The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), whose members from various countries are now meeting in Geneva, calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the intensifying government attacks against human rights defenders in Bangladesh. These take the form of arbitrary arrests and detentions of targeted personalities critical of the government’s human rights performance.
On 11 April 2013, State authorities shut down the operations of Bangladeshi newspaper, Daily Amardesh, seized its computers, and arrested its interim editor, Mr. Mahmudur Rahman. He published a transcript of a Skype conversation between former International Crimes Tribunal Chairman, Justice Muhammad Nizamul Huq, and a Bangladeshi legal expert, Ahmed Ziauddin that, according to reports, appeared to have casted doubt on the independence of the International Crimes Tribunal. The government used provisions in the Information and Communications Technology Act 2006 (ICT) to justify its actions.
- Category: Statements
The landmark in addressing the case of enforced disappearances has been made by Indonesia when in September 2009, the Indonesian Parliament (DPR) issued a recommendation to the Government, including to the President of the country related to the cases of disappearances of 23 pro-democracy activists that happened in 1997-1998, namely:
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The establishment of Ad Hoc Human Rights Court;
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The search of the 13 still disappeared activists;
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The delivery of the rights to compensation and rehabilitation to the families of victims, and;
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The ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
- Category: Statements
The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance (ICAED) supports the call for the Human Rights Council to conduct an international investigation to look into the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
ICAED members now meeting in Geneva express deep concern over the Sri Lankan government’s brazen attacks against human rights defenders and falsely maligning their work by linking them to the supposed revival of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Morever, the ICAED is also concerned of the on-going cases of enforced disappearances in the country and the still unresolved cases that happened at different period of the country’s history.
- Category: Statements
Today, as the United Nations commemorates the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) reiterates its strong condemnation against the arbitrary arrest and detention of Balendran Jeyakumari and her 13-year old daughter and the intensifying intimidation and harassment against Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen after their release from detention.
Balendran Jeyakumari’s husband disappeared during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). After the war, her son disappeared after surrendering to the Sri Lankan army.
- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is greatly concerned with the arrest and detention of Balendra Jeyakumari, active campaigner against enforced disappearances in the northern Kilinochi district of Sri Lanka yesterday. AFAD also calls on probation officials who are holding her daughter to ensure her safety.
Based on media reports initially gathered, Ms.Jeyakumari was arrested after being held in her house for hours on the grounds of hiding a criminal hunted by the police. Her case is said to be covered in the country’s tough anti-terrorism law. However, her background as active campaigner in the search for disappeared relatives especially her missing 15 year-old son gives us reason to doubt the authenticity of the police case against her. Ms. Jeyakumari and her daughter, based on media accounts, have been in the forefront of protests demanding truth from government on the details of their relatives who disappeared during and immediately after the war. In fact, during the visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron in the North of Sri Lanka last year, she and her daughter were prominently captured in media reports as part of those leaders mobilizing the relatives.