- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) strongly condemns the disappearance of human rights defender and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Mr. Sombath Somphone.
The incident occurred on 15 December 2012. Mr. Sombath was driving in Thadeu Road in Vientiane where his vehicle was stopped by two policemen. He was brought to a police post and questioned. Soon after, an unidentified man arrived on the scene and later on drove Sombath’s vehicle away. The incident which was captured in a video recording from a closed-circuit television revealed that a white pick-up truck arrived on the scene and a group of men escorted Sombath to the truck and drove away.
- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and other human rights groups in the Philippines in jubilation for Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s signing into law the Republic Act No. 10350, otherwise known as the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012.
- Category: Statements
11 December 2012 - The Asian Federation Against Enforced Disappearances (AFAD), a regional federation of human rights organizations working directly on the issue of enforced disappearances lauds the attached release of the research “Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir,” painstakingly undertaken by the International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir [IPTK] and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons [APDP].
- Category: Statements
AFAD Statement on the International Human Rights Day 2012
Today as the world commemorates the 64th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) joins the families of the disappeared and other human rights groups in the call for the full respect of the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearances.
However, 64 years after the adoption of the UDHR in Paris, France, thousands of people around the world are still forcibly made to disappear by their own governments and are placed in illegal and unknown detention centers while their families are left with no means to seek truth and demand for justice.
- Category: Statements
Joint Statement
We strongly urge President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to sign into law the Anti- Enforced Disappearance bill on Monday, December 10, 2012, as we commemorate the International Human Rights Day, to show his administration’s clear resolve to uphold human rights and end impunity.
There is no better day for the President to reaffirm his commitment to human rights and vow to end enforced disappearances than on this day as the world observes the 64th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the first universal recognition of our fundamental rights and freedoms as human persons.
- Category: Statements
Colombo, Sri Lanka - The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) concluded its week-long Council Meeting in Sri Lanka with a solidarity night together with local civil society organizations and family members of the disappeared. The night of sharing, video presentation, music and dancing ended with the arrest of six persons, including two elderly women family members of the disappeared, Ane Teresa Fernando and Ariyawathi de Silva; the Secretary of the Families of the Disappeared (FOD), Wasantha Ranile Kumara; Executive Director of the Right to Life, Mr. Philip Dissanayake; a vehicle driver and a friend. Their laptops, mobile phones and the key to the vehicle of Mr. Dissanayake, with plate number 59-9700 were taken into police custody. The victims were put into a police jeep by uniformed policemen, including the Headquarters Chief Inspector in Negombo, and another policeman who introduced himself as Assistant Superintendent of Police, but was plain clothed. Witnesses took the following official police numbers: 89218; 79573; 89568; 10701; 51717.
- Category: Open Letters
MR. OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE
Chairperson
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances,
Geneva, Switzerland.
Esteemed Chairperson and Members of the UN WGEID,
We, the Council Members of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), would like to bring to the attention of the UN WGEID the issue of continuous denial of travel documents to Mr. Parvez Imroz, AFAD Council Member representing the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir, India and his colleague Mr. Zahir-ud-Din, who is also member of the association. As you are fully aware, the AFAD has been continuously campaigning against the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in whole Asia. In the course of our work for truth, justice, reparation, redress and memory, our member-organizations are actively engaged in participating in conferences, workshops and meetings organized in different countries.
- Category: Statements
All Souls’ Day, also known as Day of Remembrance of the dearly departed, is commemorated mostly by Catholics all over the world every 2nd day of November. Literatures describe it as a day of “solemn feast”[1], of visiting the tombs of loved ones in the cemetery where prayers are offered along with fresh flowers and lit candles. It is a day characterized as a collective activity where families and friends gather together to remember the dearly departed. Other cultures make the occasion festive with food, colorful altars with photos of the dead and other memorabilia.
Countries where Catholics are the majority, like the Philippines and Timor Leste, declare All Souls’ Day a national holiday so that relatives can visit their loved ones in the cemeteries. All Souls’ Day is also called differently by many languages. The Czechs call it “Commemoration of All the Departed”[2]. Other cultures refer to it as Day of the Dead, translated as Día de los Muertos[3] for Mexicans, Halottak Napja for Hungarians and Dia de Finados for Brazilians. Poles regard All Souls’ Day as zaduszki, a day when all the windows and doors are opened to welcome the spirits of the dead[4].