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
17 July 2020
Kathmandu, Nepal

Globally, 17 July is commemorated as the International Criminal Justice Day in recognition of the adoption of the Rome Statute on 17 July 1998. On this occasion, Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) pledges its support to the strengthening of the international criminal justice system and calls upon all the stakeholders to act together to end impunity for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, established by the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Manila: Today, in observance of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) stands in solidarity with the victims of torture across the globe and unequivocally condemns this egregious practice.


Despite 170 parties and 83 signatories to the Convention against Torture (CAT) which came into force over three decades ago, torture persists across continents. States continue to perpetrate this offense routinely and countless people become victims. Torture is a contemptible act that causes extreme and irreversible psychological and physical damage on the individual. It is an inhumane, degrading and cruel treatment or punishment to which no human being should be subjected.

A Joint Statement by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asian Human Rights Commission, International Federation for Human Rights, Odhikar, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 2020

Manila/Hong Kong/Paris/Dhaka/Washington, D.C./Geneva, 25 June 2020: On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (26 June), the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Odhikar, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) remember and pay tribute to victims of torture and stand in solidarity with the victims and their families.

PRESS STATEMENT
June 5, 2020
Do Not Sideline the Transitional Justice Process under the Excuse of Covid-19
Proceed with the Act Amendment Process in a Credible Manner

15 years ago, on 6 June 2005, the then Maoists rebels had bombed a public bus in Badarmude of Chitwan district leaving 35 civilians and 3 security personnel dead and more than 70 civilians injured. Accountability Watch Committee (AWC) also recalls the brutal killing of 17-year-old Krishna Prasad Adhikary by the then Maoists rebels on 7 June 2004 at Bakulahar Chowk in Chitwan. The AWC strongly urges the Government of Nepal to address the demands of truth, justice and reparations being raised by conflict victims for years and to put an end to the deep-rooted culture of impunity, ensuring non-repetition of such crimes in the future.

The Federation

AFAD map