- Category: Statements
AFAD 15th Anniversary Statement
4 June 2013 - A decade and a half have passed since the founding of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). Many Asian governments continue the practice of making people disappear while past cases remain unresolved. While they fail to hold the perpetrators accountable, victims and their families continue to suffer from this abominable scourge, which violates a number of human rights. Much as it wants itself to be rendered irrelevant, AFAD remains to be relevant.
The birth of AFAD had given voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless and presence to the disappeared in the Asian region. It has provided flesh and blood to solidarity which endeavors to transform shared aspirations into common actions towards a unified vision.
- Category: Statements
It has been more than 32 years since FEDEFAM, the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM), initiated the commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared every last week of May. The FEDEFAM, in its first Congress in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1981, envisioned this week as a venue for intensified campaign for justice and peace for all desaparecidos and their families.
As the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) continues to adopt this endeavor led by families’ organizations for the disappeared in different parts of the world, we also exclaim the need for a unified duty to accord the rights of every citizen not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. The Coalition adheres to believe that the foremost solution to ensure that the number of cases documented and reported will not increase and for cases of the past to be resolved is for all states to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention).
- Category: Statements
On the 32nd year of the commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the families and friends of victims of enforced disappearance in remembering, paying tribute and restoring the dignity of the men, women and children who were made to disappear in Asia and the rest of the world.
- Category: Statements
AFAD and FIND Joint Statement on the International Week of the Disappeared
Every last week of May, organizations of the families of the disappeared and human rights advocates worldwide commemorate the International Week of the Disappeared (IWD) following the Latin American tradition which successfully brought to international attention the global phenomenon of enforced disappearance and the imperative for a global response.
Enforced disappearance is a continuing affront to human dignity, civil rights and liberties as well as violations of economic, social and cultural rights. It continues to inflict untold sufferings not only on victims but also on their families. It is committed when a person is deprived of liberty by the state or agents of the state, and information on the whereabouts of the missing is concealed or denied.
- Category: News
The most well-known cases of enforced disappearances in Indonesia are those involving pro-democracy activists who disappeared from 1997 - 1998. This was the height of the anti-dictatorship movement against General Suharto who ruled Indonesia for 32 years. Many individuals were abducted by the military because of their political activism towards achieving genuine democracy in their country. This movement soon led to the ouster of Suharto and the dawn of a new democratic Indonesia.
- Category: Statements
May 17 to 27, 1980 in South Korea and May 18 to 20, 1992 in Thailand: two different events, one common cause - to fight for freedom and democracy against a government led by a military general. In those days in both countries, thousands of people protested against their respective governments which denied them their civil and political rights. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins with the members of the May 18 Memorial Foundation and the Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes in paying tribute to all those who died, survived and disappeared in both the Gwangju Democratization Movement and Black May 1992 protests in South Korea and Thailand. They fought for their rights and those of the future generation. They are an inspiration to all of us who continue to work for a truly democratic and genuinely pro-people government in our respective countries.
- Category: Statements
Truth cannot be hidden forever…
Exactly six years ago, Jonas Burgos, peasant leader and son of the late press freedom icon, Joe Burgos, was allegedly seized and made to disappear by the military at the Ever Gotesco Mall in Quezon City. For six long years, the Burgos family has indefatigably searched for him, used of every possible step available to know the truth behind Jonas’ enforced disappearance and bring those responsible to justice.
- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) condemns the torture of journalist Mr. Mahmudur Rahman under police custody and calls on the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to investigate and hold accountable those responsible. The AFAD also asks Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government to provide necessary medical care to Mr. Rahman and ensure his health and safety while in detention.
The case of Mr. Rahman, now confined at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) reportedly due to severe torture wounds, is an affront to your commitment to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.