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

Press statement For immediate release 5 June 2020 Kathmandu, Nepal

Victims of Badarmude, Madi, Chitwan are still waiting for truth, justice and reparation. 15 years ago, (23 Jestha 2062) Maoist cadres blew up the bus carrying civilians, resulting in the death of 35 civilians and 3 off duty security personnel. It injured more than 70 people, many of them are still suffering from severe physical and psychological trauma. Victims have been waiting for truth, justice and reparation for last 15 years.

Rawalpindi; ​Defence of Human Rights on the occasion of International week of Disappeared has organized a number of online activities starting from 25th May 2020. The very last week of May, families of the disappeared and human rights activists around the world join handsin the activities to commemorate International Week of the Disappeared. This week is observed to show solidarity with the victim families of enforced disappearances. Most of the families have been struggling to find the truth and justice for decades now.This week shall be a reminder for all those families that they do not stand alone in this struggle to find their disappeared loved-ones.

Philippines (24th to 30th May, 2020): The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) commemorates the International Week of the Disappeared, 2020 and stands in solidarity with the families of the disappeared across continents. Most of these families have been struggling for decades to know the truth about the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.

Amid the extraordinarily difficult circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, enforced disappearances along with torture, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, and other gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms persist.

The COVID-19 pandemic cannot obliterate enforced disappearance. On the contrary, it may even exacerbate the perpetration of this global scourge.

As we kick off the International Week of the Disappeared (IWD) this year, we think of Joseph Jimeda, fondly called Dodong. On 07 May 2020, Dodong, a resident of Caloocan City left home for the Navotas City fish port to buy fish. Vending fish is his source of livelihood. His wife and children waited for him the whole day and through the night. But Dodong didn’t come home. For a week they were clueless of his whereabouts. Fear engulfed them as they anxiously searched for him. Finally Dodong surfaced with a harrowing tale to tell. He was arrested as he could not produce a Navotas City-issued quarantine pass. They then detained him along with more than 500 other alleged violators of enhanced community quarantine directives.

The Federation

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