- Category: Statements
A joint statement by AFAD and Odhikar on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2021
Dhaka/Manila, 8 March 2021: Violence and discrimination against women are widespread in Bangladesh. Moreover, due to rampant human rights violations such as enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody due to torture, majority of women from victim families face trauma, insecurity and financial difficulties. In Bangladesh, along with the repression by the authoritarian regime, women face a deep-rooted patriarchal power system. The victims of enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing are mainly male who in most cases are breadwinners. Therefore, their disappearance or extrajudicial killing not only creates severe trauma in the families but also imposes extreme financial burden on them. Women, especially wives of victims, suddenly find themselves heading the household even as they struggle to cope with the trauma.
- Category: Statements
Statement of Odhikar
Odhikar is deeply concerned over the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed on 25 February 2021, who was detained in Kashimpur Central Jail under the repressive Digital Security Act, 2018. Police also attacked anti-government student organisations in Dhaka when they brought out a rally in protest of his death and to demand the repeal of the Digital Security Act, 2018. Many were injured and arrested and all were deprived of their freedom of peaceful assembly.
- Category: Statements
Manila: It has been eight years since the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, a community development worker from Laos. The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) continues to stand in solidarity with Sombath’s family, friends, and other human rights defenders who struggle to know the whereabouts of Sombath.
- Category: Statements
On the International Human Rights Day and commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the precursor of landmark international human rights instruments, human rights defenders (HRDs) have reasons to celebrate. Today, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) hails its members who have courageously and steadfastly protected and promoted human rights and fundamental freedoms particularly the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance (ED).
- Category: Statements
A Joint Statement on International Human Rights Day, 2020
(Bangkok, Geneva, Hong Kong, Manila, New York, Washington D.C., December 10, 2020) – The international community should take a strong stand for the protection of human rights in Bangladesh, seven human rights groups said on International Human Rights Day. As Bangladeshis grapple with the impact of Covid-19, the ruling Awami League has used the pandemic to tighten the screws on critics and the free press, further entrenching authoritarian rule.
- Category: Statements
Institutional Transformation Urgently Needed for Protection of Rights
Dhaka, 9 December 2020: International Human Rights Day heralds the universal call for protecting rights of all human beings without any form of discrimination. The protection of human rights is necessitated more than ever while a global pandemic hits the life and liberties of the citizens.
- Category: Statements
A Joint Statement by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asian Human Rights Commission, International Federation for Human Rights and Odhikar on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2020
Dhaka/Manila/Hong Kong/Paris, 24 November 2020: November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, numerous reports have emerged that all types of violence against women (VAW), especially domestic violence, have intensified worldwide. 1 UN termed the upsurge in VAW the “shadow pandemic “and emphasized the need for a global collective effort to stop it.
- Category: Statements
Manila: The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) remembers human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra on the day of his abduction and disappearance and stands in solidarity with the victims of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions in the state of Punjab in north India.