- Category: Statements
It’s been three years after the brutal torture and murder of Aminul Islam and the climate of impunity continues in Bangladesh.
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) deeply condemns the murder of Aminul Islam, a human rights defender who helped garment factory workers demand their basic human rights and challenge the unjust system.
Abducted, Aminul Islam was brutally tortured and murdered as a direct result of his work to improve the working conditions for Bangladeshi garment workers. Apparently, this form of human rights violation sent a direct clear message to those working in the industry of what their future would hold if they attempt to exercise their labor rights and make demands for humane and better working conditions.
- Category: Statements
March 12, 2004 – March 12, 2015
Today, 12th March, marks the 11th anniversary of the disappearance of Khun Somchai Neelapaijit, but, his fate and whereabouts remain unknown. His family’s anguish and the intense pain of waiting in uncertainty has been and continues to be a torment. Being uncertain on his fate has been devastatingly difficult for his family, friends and the Justice for Peace Foundation, who, despite the many grave threats received, have been unwavering in their search for truth and justice for Khun Somchai and other victims of enforced disappearances in Thailand.
- Category: Statements
(Bangkok/Dhaka, 10 February 2015) - The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), express deep concern over the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances by the security forces of Bangladesh, centering on the current confrontations between the ruling Awami League (and its 14-party Alliance) and the BNP-led 20- Party Alliance over free, fair, credible and participatory national elections under a neutral interim government, which has resulted in large scale violence and human rights violations all over Bangladesh.
- Category: Statements
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls on the Sri Lankan authorities to investigate the new threats against its Council member, Mr. Brito Fernando of Families of the Disappeared.
Based on the account of Mr. Fernando, past 10:30 evening of 4 January 2015, he, together with his wife and daughter arrived home to find a polythine bag hanging in his gate. He did not inspect it with his family around as his daughter was already crying out of fear. He opened it around 6:00 in the morning the next day and found the head of a dog cut from the neck with blood around it. He assumed the dog was just killed the night before it was placed on his gate.
- Category: Statements
Today, 23 December 2014 marks the 4th anniversary of the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (Convention) after the 20th instrument of ratification was deposited by Iraq. Four years after the entry into force of the Convention, this treaty, whose provisions originate from the concrete sufferings of the families of the disappeared, has garnered 44 ratifications and 94 signatories, with Slovakia being the most recent State Party and Angola as the most recent signatory. Yet of the 94 States Parties, only 18 States have recognized the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).
With the 84 states having outstanding cases submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, universal ratification of the Convention is far from being realized. The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) reports of 42,889 active cases it has received from 84 states. Multiplied by the number of family members, relatives and friends who suffer from the effect of enforced disappearance, each case is not just part of statistics but it signifies tremendous human sufferings caused by states which are supposed to be protectors of human rights.
- Category: Statements
- Category: Statements
Nothing to Celebrate
On December 10, 2014, the world celebrates International Human Rights Day. But for the families of the disappeared in the Philippines, there is very little to celebrate. Hundreds of victims of enforced disappearance from previous regimes remain disappeared. Perpetrators have yet to be brought to justice. And now, under the current Aquino regime, the atrocity that is enforced disappearance still persists with no end in sight.
- Category: Statements
Sixty-six years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a common standard for all peoples and nations to achieve and enjoy in terms of their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Since then, nine human rights treaties have been adopted and ratified by many States Parties to make human rights claims legally binding and enforceable.
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CAED), which entered into force on 23 December 2010 is one of these nine treaties where a new right is recognized:
The Right Not to be Disappeared. As of 12 September 2014, the Committee on Enforced Disappearance reported that this treaty has 43 States Parties and 94 signatories. In Asia, only Cambodia, Iraq and Japan ratified the Convention while Laos, Lebanon, Mongolia and Thailand signed it. Of these said Asian States Parties, only Japan recognized the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in terms of inter-state complaints.