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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?
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AFAD’s Mid-Year Report (2003)
As the Second Congress of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances will be convened on the last week of August, the
Federation deems it fit to report the results of its work since the
beginning of the year 2003 until the middle of the year. This will be an
integral part of the AFAD Council/Secretariat May 2000-July 2003 Report
to the Congress.
Amidst continuing human rights violations and escalating economic crisis
in Asia on the one hand and the organizational problems the Federation
encountered during the year 2002 on the other hand, AFAD remains
steadfast in its conviction to realize its mission, vision and goals.
The beginning of the year saw AFAD actively participating in the first
session of the United Nations Working Group for a Legally Binding
Normative Instrument for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances held in Geneva, Switzerland on January 8-17,
2003. The voice of the families of the disappeared in different parts of
Asia, through the representation of AFAD, was heard loud enough when,
together with FEDEFAM and RADIF, AFAD was able to present its views on
the 1998 United Nations Draft Convention on the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
Related to this international lobbying was the fact that the whole AFAD
Council attended the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights and the NGO parallel activities. AFAD, through its
member-organizations in Indonesia and the Philippines, delivered oral
interventions before the official session of the United Nations
member-states. More importantly, it was able to speak to different Asian
governments to lobby them to take a position favorable to the draft
treaty. Majority of the human rights standards were drafted in Geneva.
This lobbying is important because according to an international
lobbyist, while the final decision-making does lie in the capitals, the
conceptualization and drafting are undertaken by the UN-Geneva-based
diplomats. Among other important activities that the whole AFAD Council
conducted at the United Nations was the meeting with Mr. Diego Garcia
Sayan, Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances wherein AFAD members presented specific cases
and general situations.
AFAD also continues to support the effort of its member in the
Philippines, the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
to lobby for the enactment of the Anti-Involuntary Disappearance Bill of
2003. If enacted into law, it will be the first legislation ever in Asia
criminalizing involuntary disappearances.
Under the aspect of solidarity, the successful hunger strike of the
families of the disappeared in Kashmir was a test that in solidarity,
there is strength, indeed. In front of the Indian embassy in Jakarta,
KontraS and Ikohi staged a picket to support the hunger strike in
Kashmir. In the same manner, the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign in Hong Kong
also staged a picket in front of the Indian Consulate, which then forced
the Vice Consul to promise that the matter would be brought to the
attention of the Indian government’s headquarters in New Delhi. The rest
of the AFAD members and its Secretariat conducted an information
dissemination drive and issued statements sent to the striking families
of the disappeared in Kashmir, to the embassies of India in their
respective countries and to the Permanent Mission of India at the United
Nations in Geneva.
Crossing regional boundaries, AFAD shared its work of human rights
organizations in Africa. The AFAD Secretary-General, after her
participation in the conference of human rights organizations in West
Africa in 2002, was again invited to share the Federation’s work in two
separate conferences in Pretoria, South Africa and in Arusha, Tanzania
in East Africa. Sponsored by Linking Solidarity, these conferences were
part of the efforts to establish a continental network of organizations
that will work on the phenomenon of involuntary disappearances.
AFAD’s continuing cooperation with FEDEFAM, particularly its
participation in the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights and through the simultaneous commemoration of the
International Week of the Disappeared is one of the many important
expressions of international solidarity during this period.
Under the aspect of campaigns, as traditionally done, AFAD conducted a
synchronized commemoration of the International Week of the Disappeared.
Multifarious activities were done by most of the member-organizations to
remember the disappeared and to protest against the still unresolved and
on-going phenomenon of involuntary disappearances.
In terms of information-dissemination, AFAD, in cooperation with The
Royal Netherlands Embassy, launched its website (http://www.afad-online.org)
on June 4, 2003 in time for the celebration of its 5th anniversary and
the commemoration of the 14th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre.
This is to complement its bi-yearly magazine, “The Voice.”
A new endeavor during the year is the implementation of AFAD’s
Rehabilitation Program realized through the generous support of
Evangelicher Entwicklungsdienst e.V. (EED) based in Bonn, Germany. The
support from EED has augmented the continuing support of AFAD’s main
partner, HIVOS, based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Families of
Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) in the Philippines and the
KontraS/ Ikohi in Indonesia have already started the project among
families of the disappeared.
To ensure that all these efforts be sustained and intensified, AFAD
deemed it fit to sponsor a one-week Leadership Training attended by all
members from seven countries. It was held in Manila, Philippines on
January 27-31, 2003. With the theme, “Strengthening Organizational
Capacities For Effective Advocacies,” the leadership training was able
to surface internal issues within the Federation and its constituency,
explore and develop AFAD’s potentials and capacities and come up with
resolutions on how to further concretize its work as a regional network
concerned with involuntary disappearances in Asia.
The middle of the year ended with the start of the preparations of its
Founding Congress, a major organizational endeavor that will determine
the life of the Federation in the next three years. With the theme: “
Strengthen AFAD’s Unity Amidst Diversity: A Key to An Effective Human
Rights Advocacy, “ the Second Congress aims to sum-up AFAD’s work for
the last three years, firm up its basic principles through the amendment
and ratification of its statutes, elect a new set of leaders and draw up
a Three-Year General Plan of Action for 2003.
All in all, AFAD can honestly say that despite its difficulties and
limitations, it continues to be true to its much-avowed mission, vision
and goals.
Much more cries out to be accomplished for sake of the victims of
involuntary disappearances.
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