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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? |
Anniversary Statement
June 4, 2009
Eleven Years of Trials and Triumphs
Toward A World Without Desaparecidos
4 June 2009 - Today marks the anniversary of the
founding of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD),
which has garnered a decade and a year of journey towards a world
without desaparecidos. Urged by the regional phenomenon of
enforced disappearances, inspired by the struggle of its Latin American
counterpart, the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives
of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM) and similar formations from
other continents, organizations of families of the disappeared from the
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Kashmir (India), came together eleven years
ago to give birth to a regional federation.
The seed of solidarity which its founders sowed has metamorphosed and
grown into a mature federation of eight member -organizations from
India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines and Thailand. The AFAD
came into being as a regional response to the alarming phenomenon of
enforced disappearances in Asia which debunked the myth that this
heinous crime against humanity is a thing of the past and solely a Latin
American experience. In its efforts to expose this malady and to bring
the issue to the national and international attention, the Federation
has become the voice of the thousands of voiceless victims and families
of the disappeared in the world’s largest and most populated region
which now has the worst record enforced disappearances cases, according
to the recent annual reports of the UN Working Group on Enforced or
involuntary Disappearances.
During these last 11 years, the AFAD conducted its international
solidarity, lobby and campaign work. Already, it has grown into a
federation of eight organizations from eight Asian countries that
closely relate with similar formations from Latin America, Africa, and
Europe. During these years, the Federation also had former
member-organizations in China and Sri Lanka, countries notorious of its
worst human rights record and for one reason or another, the common
reason of which is security problem, the Federation no longer has
contacts with them.
As a recognition that enforced disappearance brings havoc to the lives
of the victims and their next of kin, the AFAD has initiated a
psychosocial rehabilitation program which aims to heal the families of
the victims from the trauma brought about by the loss of their loved
ones and to empower them by transforming their traumatic experiences
into an unwavering commitment to fight against impunity.
In response to the global magnitude of enforced disappearance, the
Federation actively participated in all sessions of the then UN Working
Group to Elaborate a Draft Legally Binding Normative Instrument for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and ensured the
adoption of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance. It is continuously lobbying, particularly Asian
governments, to sign and ratify this important treaty and to ensure its
immediate entry into force.
More basically, the very existence of the Federation has projected the
reality that in Asia, enforced disappearances exist and in fact,
continue unabated, especially in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kashmir (India),
Southern Thailand and the Philippines.
In the face of state’s denial and repression, the AFAD courageously
stood at the forefront in the struggle of the families of the
disappeared for truth, justice, redress and reconstruction of historical
memory of their desaparecidos.
The road that AFAD has chosen to take is one less travelled. The growth
of AFAD as a regional federation was achieved not without trials and
tribulations. The Federation has sailed stormy seas and weathered
tempests. One of the major tests of its life as a Federation was during
the time when its former Chairperson, Munir, then staunchest human
rights defender in Indonesia, was murdered by arsenic poisoning on a
Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Singapore on 7 September
2004. It happened when the Federation was still mourning for the death
of Aasia Jeelani, a woman human rights defender of the Association of
Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir who was killed by a
landmine in an election monitoring duty in the north part of Kashmir,
India on 20 April 2004. Furthermore, many of the Federation’s
constituents, especially in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, who
have put their lives in the line for defending and protecting human
rights at all fronts are subjected to violence.
But amidst these obstacles, the AFAD refuses to give up and has all the
more been determined to continue. Despite trials, the AFAD is resolved
to continue to garner triumphs by improving its capacity both in its
leadership and constituency and in strengthening its
member-organizations which are the very sources of the Federation’s
vitality. Amidst internal and external difficulties, the Federation,
linking arms with similar formations in all points of the globe, is
resolute in continuing to carry out its avowed mission, vision and
goals.
The memories of all desaparecidos of the world, the cries of
their families for truth and justice and the much- cherished dream for a
world without desaparecidos in the midst of this dark night of
the disappeared in Asia and the rest of the world - all these are
sources of our very assertion of the relevance of the Federation and of
the imperative of its very existence and continuing growth.
The Federation’s eleven years of trials and triumphs give us the hope
and the strength to continue building a more dynamic federation that
continues to respond to the regional as well as international phenomenon
of enforced or involuntary disappearances.
Finally, we pause for a minute of silence to honor all the
desaparecidos of the world who are our reason for existence. On this
day, lest we forget, we equally honor the martyrs and heroes of the
Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, who, twenty years ago, were
massacred, made to disappear and whose family members and relatives, the
Tiananmen Mothers, continue to be persecuted in their relentless search
for truth and justice for their loved ones.
Long live the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances! Long
live the fight against impunity!
Signed and authenticated by:
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|
MUGIYANTO |
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO |
| Chairperson |
Secretary-General |
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