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Statements of AFAD
Proceedings:
Articles on the Proceedings on the AFAD Leadership Training
Jan. 27 - 31, 2003, Philippines
AFAD Second Congress Resolutions
August 2003
Remembering Munir
AFAD Second Congress
August 26-30, 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand
AFAD’s Mid-Year Report
Ding Zilin's
Message To
Hong Kong
Again, The KONTRAS – IKOHI Office Was Attacked
“ If they are dead, tell us”!
My sons, where are they? |
Helping families of the disappeared
help themselves –
Asian experiences, successes and difficulties
From November 9 to 11 the First Asian Conference on Psychosocial
Support in the Search for Involuntarily Disappeared, in the Struggle for
Truth and Justice and in Exhumation Processes will be held in
Manila. The event is organized by GEZA a non-profit organization from
Austria (www.geza.at),
ECAP, an NGO from Guatemala (www.ecapguatemala.org)
and AFAD as the regional partner.
The phenomenon of enforced or involuntary disappearances was and
unfortunately still is practiced in many countries on silent (political)
opponents. The families of the victims not only have to face the
economic and emotional consequences of the loss, they also have to cope
with the impact of the insecurity about the destiny of their beloved
one, the social stigma and the resulting psychological problems.
Psychosocial accompaniment and a good coordination of all disciplines
involved in the exhumation process, and already in the search for the
enforced disappeared – psychologists, forensic pathologists, forensic
anthropologists, lawyers, human rights workers, family organizations
etc. – is important to reach the common goal: to support the families in
the best possible way.
Already in 2007 an international conference about psychosocial support
for families of enforced disappeared was convened in Guatemala – also
there GEZA (then still known as Nord-Süd-Institut) and ECAP were
involved in the organization. (http://www.psicosocial.net/congreso-guatemala/index-en.html).
In that event more than one hundred people from the different
disciplines attended and worked together on a proposal for international
minimum standards in the support of families of enforced disappeared.
In the Asian sequel we want to keep the interdisciplinary approach. As a
preparation we want to discuss a Validation form of proposed Minimum
Standards in psychosocial work with families of enforced disappeared and
in exhumation processes. The feedback of the local experts will be
discussed in the event of the conference, where we also want to come to
an Asian position regarding the Validation Form of Minimum Standards and
include the local experiences.
In view of the different cultural, political, historical and social
contexts in the different countries of Asia, it is a challenging but
very interesting task.
Some may ask why so many conferences? Wouldn't it be better to use the
limited resources to work on the subject and help the families directly?
One of the founding ideas regarding this initiative was a related
question: How could we use our limited resources better? The most
evident answer might be by learning to improve our work based on the
successes and difficulties others have experienced in similar
situations. Keeping this in mind, the planned conference offers the
space to share and learn and to intensify the collaboration within the
Asian community.
Making the results of the conference available
In order not to lose the results of the conference,
the publication of a book is planned, which will compile the varying
situations in the different Asian countries. The idea is that the people
working with the families, the “local experts,” come together and write
an article about the situation of enforced disappearance in their
country and the different forms (religious, psychological, ritual, etc.)
of support for families of the disappeared that are practiced.
The main objective of the entire project is to show the range of
strategies and approaches to assist families of involuntary disappeared
people help themselves in coping with the pain, and to be able to live a
self-determined life again.
contact:
Katharina Lauritsch
mk.lauritsch@gmx.at
Mobile: 0063-9273271827
AFAD – Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
afad@surfshop.net.ph
Tel/Fax: 0063-24546759; 0063-29274594
http://www.afad-online.org
Franc Kernjak
franc_kernjak@yahoo.com
ecap@guate.net.gt
Telefax: (502) 2232-1430 / 2253-6071
Mobile: (502) 5966-3569
www.ecapguatemala.org
Details of the conference:
The conference will be a three-day event.
The first day will feature lectures, open debate and poster presentation
that will give a general overview about the psychosocial work,
exhumations and the situations of families of disappeared in the
different countries of Asia.
On the second day the validation in the Asian context of the proposed
“minimum standards in psychosocial work in the search for enforced
disappeared and exhumation processes” will take the center, in order to
come to a common point regarding the document.
The third day will include workshops treating trauma rehabilitation,
experiences from Latin America and the preparation of a publication
about the situation in the different Asian countries.
Objectives:
The goal of the conference is to learn from different experiences,
discuss the present state of psychosocial accompaniment during the
search for enforced disappeared and in exhumation processes and work on
the validation of proposed international minimum standards.
The objectives of the conference therefore are:
to share experiences in the psychosocial support of families of
enforced disappeared, in the search and during the exhumation process
and to relate these experiences to the needs of the people affected.
to work on the implications of the different cultural, political,
historical, religious and social backgrounds in the different Asian
countries for the accompaniment of families of enforced disappeared and
to include them in the validation form.
to work on possible alternatives for situations where no exhumations
are possible, according to the needs of the affected families.
to promote the cooperation of different actors in the search of
enforced disappeared and in exhumation processes on the local, regional
and international leve
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