CONSTITUTION OF THE ASIAN FEDERATION
AGAINST INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES (AFAD)
PREAMBLE
We, the Asian organizations of families, relatives and friends of
victims of involuntary disappearances, form ourselves into a federation
of human rights organizations known as the Asian Federation Against
Involuntary Disappearances or AFAD.
We dedicate ourselves to the promotion, protection and defense of human
rights principally of victims of involuntary disappearances in Asia and
of their families and relatives and do hereby promulgate this
Constitution.
ARTICLE I
NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE FEDERATION
Section 1 – The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
is a federation of human rights organizations in Asia concerned with the
issue of disappearances. The federation acknowledges that the practice
of involuntary disappearance is directed against the political opponents
of the States and those who uphold and defend the socio-economic,
cultural as well as civil and political rights of peoples. The
federation is independent and non profit.
Section 2- The federation shall be Asia-wide.
ARTICLE II
PRINCIPLES
Section 1. We uphold and believe in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, especially in the right to life, dignity and
self-determination regardless of age, gender, race, beliefs, creed and
culture. Moreover, we uphold the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR); the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the United Nations Declaration on the
Protection of All Persons From Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNDPAPFEID),
the United Nations Draft Convention on the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment.
In the pursuit of our objectives, we are guided and motivated by the
principles of truth, justice, freedom and democracy and international
solidarity.
ARTICLE III
OBJECTIVES
Section 1. We commit ourselves to achieve the following objectives:
1. To build, develop and promote international solidarity among
organizations of families of the disappeared and among individual
representatives of countries in Asia where these organizations cannot
exist because of intense repression and to help form support groups from
other countries.
2. To assist member-organizations in their respective local concerns
about involuntary disappearance.
3. To regularly formulate Asian updates and analyses of the situation of
disappearances and present these updates and analyses to the United
Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances,
appropriate bodies in the international community and other
organizations other continents;
4. To produce publications promoting international awareness of the
grave problem of disappearances in Asia and to devise urgent actions on
specific cases.
5. To establish and develop closer and more systematic links among these
different groups and individuals through a regular news bulletin and
develop an e-mail network for matters which need urgent responses. As
well as to regularly update and promote the existing AFAD website.
6. To develop strategies and tactics for lobbying Asian government
bodies on the national, regional and international levels on the issue
of involuntary disappearances. To transmit denunciations to competent
international organizations such as the United Nations Working Group on
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; relevant UN Special Rapporteurs
on themes and countries, and government formations in the region such as
the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC ).
7. To actively campaign against governments’ measures to perpetuate
impunity by conducting joint actions that can either take place
simultaneously in different parts of the Asian region or be coordinated
at one specific location. It is the intention of AFAD that public
acknowledgment of disappearances by governments and their corresponding
public commitment to ensure their prevention be presented concretely
through the establishment of mechanisms that guarantee the
criminalization of disappearances.
8. To become a venue for discussions on substantive issues and training
on topics such as legal actions and procedures and the response to
offers of compensation to victims and their families. To also be a
center for holistic healing, helping families process the pain of losing
a loved one and assisting in the availment of livelihood projects.
9. To work for the adoption and ratification of or accession to the
United Nations Draft Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
10. To lobby Asian governments to ratify the International Criminal
Court and to use this existing international instrument vis-à-vis
resolution of admissible cases.
11. To coordinate closely with the Latin American Federation of
Relatives of Disappeared Detainees ( FEDEFAM ) on matters of common
concern and to sustain and develop linkages with groups working on the
issue of disappearances on other continents.
12. To encourage other regional formations on other continents and
possibly assist in such formations.
ARTICLE IV
DEFINITION OF INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE
Section 1. In accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, AFAD defines
enforced or involuntary disappearance as follows:
“An involuntary or enforced disappearance occurs when persons are
arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived
of their liberty by officials or different branches or levels of
Government, or by organized groups, or private individuals acting on
behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or
acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the
deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the
protection of the law.”
ARTICLE V
MEMBERSHIP
Section 1. AFAD shall have for its membership the organizations of
families, relatives and friends of victims of the involuntary
disappeared in Asia, the surfaced disappeared and the advocates and
defenders of the rights of the victims and their families.
Section 2. Membership shall be open to any organization which qualifies
under the preceding section and which adheres to the principles and
objectives under Article ll and lll thereof.
ARTICLE VI
ORGANIZATIONAL SET-UP
Section 1. AFAD is a regional federation that shall be composed of
the Congress, the Council, the Secretariat and the General Membership.
Section 2. The Congress shall be the highest policy-making body of the
federation. It shall be composed of the officers and two delegates
elected or appointed by each member-organization.
Section 3. In between Congresses, the Council shall be the highest
policy-making body of the federation. It shall be composed of one
representative nominated by each member organization and the three
officers of the federation: the Chairperson, the Secretary General and
the Treasurer. They shall meet as the need arises.
Section 4. The Council members will be elected by their own
member-organizations with the approval of the Congress or the Council as
the case may be. In no case shall more than one officer shall come from
one country.
Section 5. The Executive Council shall be composed of the Chairperson,
Secretary-General and the Treasurer. It may meet as the need arises In
between Council meetings to execute the policies of the Council.
Section 6. The Secretariat shall be entrusted with the facilitation of
the day-to-day implementation of the general program drawn up by the
Congress. It shall be composed of the Secretary-General and the staff
hired in consultation with the Council.
ARTICLE VII
AMENDMENTS
Section 1 – This Constitution or any provision thereof may be
adopted, amended, modified or repealed by a vote of at least two-thirds
of the voting members in a duly constituted quorum of the Congress
ARTICLE VIII
EFFECTIVITY
Section 1 – This Constitution shall take effect upon ratification by
the Congress.
Ratified by the Delegates to the Second AFAD CONGRESS on August 29, 2003
at Baan Siri Place, Bangkok, Thailand.
