- 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.
- Category: IDD-AFAD-MO
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) observes the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (IDD) standing in solidarity with the families of the disappeared who are among the hardest hit by the global health crisis.
Years after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on Enforced Disappearance and the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED), the egregious practice that violates practically all human rights persists globally.milies of the disappeared who are among the hardest hit by the global health crisis.
- Category: IDD-AFAD-MO
*Joint Statement by 12 human rights groups ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, 2020
(Dhaka, August 28, 2020) – Bangladesh security forces and law-enforcement agencies continuously commit enforced disappearances with impunity, targeting journalists, activists, and government critics, 12 human rights groups said today ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The groups remember the victims of enforced disappearances and stand in solidarity with the families of people who have been forcibly disappeared in Bangladesh and across the world.
- Category: Press Releases
PRESS STATEMENT
Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) is concerned about the deteriorating health condition of IIh, a youth activist, who has been staging an indefinite hunger strike ‘Satyagraha’ for the last 13 days. The second phase of the hunger strike started on 18 July 2020 as a part of the "Enough is Enough" campaign (an independent collective movement, initiated and joined by hundreds of Nepali youths around the country demanding broader accountability and transparency in the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic). This second phase hunger strike is a call to the government to adhere to its previous commitments and to address 15-point demands (such as an expansion of PCR testing criteria, optimum use of existing resources, contact tracing, the rectification of quarantine strategy, risk information, timely results, dignity, security and relief, transparency and accountability and so forth) for better COVID-19 response measures. To date, more than 150 youths have participated in a relay hunger strike.