AFAD 25 Years Video Teaser

This AFAD video teaser is an opening salvo of the yearlong campaign and fight Against Enforced Disappearances and for the Protection, not Persecution, of Human Rights Defenders, across Asia.

a continuing crime
a disappearing act

What's Happening

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and its member organisations mark the International Week of the Disappeared 2026 under the banner “Memory is Resistance: Carrying Hope, Demanding Truth.”  The theme reflects the collective realities faced by organizations across the region in 2025, a year characterized by a volatile mix of grassroots mobilization and intensified state repression. As AFAD has noted, “Memory is our strength, and justice remains our demand”. It reflects the harsh realities organizations faced across Asia in 2025 and the power of collective remembrance to challenge silence and impunity. Memory, then, is the discipline through which families and defenders refuse the State’s preferred ending silence.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) expresses its profound horror and outrage following the devastating medical update regarding human rights defender Andrie Yunus, whose eyes are reportedly melting due to the severity of a targeted acid attack. Andrie, the Deputy Coordinator for External Affairs of our member organization KontraS, remains in critical condition with chemical burns covering 20% of his body.This barbaric assault, which took place on 12 March 2026, was clearly premeditated, occurring immediately after Andrie participated in a public discussion regarding remilitarism and the expansion of military influence in Indonesia.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) proudly celebrates Brito Fernando, President of our member organization Families of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka, for being awarded the Swedish Government's international prize for human rights and democracy.

Ngayong ika-25 ng Pebrero, 40 na taon mula noong EDSA People Power Revolution, ating inaalala ang lahat ng biktima ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao, kabilang na dito ang mga sapilitang iwinala, sa ilalim ng diktadurang Ferdinand Marcos Sr. 

Binalot ng kadiliman ang buong bansa sa ilalim ng batas militar ni Marcos Sr. Sa loob ng 14 na taon, libu-libo ang matatalang paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Sa panahon na ito, ayon sa Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), may naitalang 1,034 na biktima ng sapilitang pagkawala – 626 sa bilang na ito ay hindi pa rin nalilitaw. Marami sa mga ito ay mga kabataan, lider-manggagawa, mamamahayag, at kritiko ng gobyerno na ninakawan ng kinabukasan. 

The Federation

AFAD map