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?

Back to Statements of AFAD

Philippines
Country Resolution on the Importance of Criminalizing Enforced Disappearances
 
  
Resolution
 
WHEREAS taking into account that the United Nations through the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee have internationally recognized “enforced disappearances” as a crime against humanity;
 
WHEREAS enforced disappearance has been defined in the approved International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as the arrest, detention, abduction, or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by the refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.
 
WHEREAS the international community has accepted the need to respect and uphold the Right Not to be Disappeared;
 
WHEREAS enforced disappearances has continued unabated in the Philippine country aside from other human rights violations such as extra judicial killings;
 
WHEREAS the Arroyo government, in its desire to stay in power, has targeted suspected “enemies of the state” in its counter-insurgency strategy conducted under the pretext of “anti-terrorism”;
 
WHEREAS the incumbent administration continues to deny its involvement in these acts of human rights violations and fails to recognize the importance of HB 4959 criminalizing enforced disappearances;
 
WHEREAS the Philippine state’s primary duties are to protect and uphold the right and dignities of its citizen;
 
Therefore, we the participants in the Third Congress of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances guided by the theme – “Coming Together: Forging a Global Respect for the Right Not to b Disappeared” held in Kathmandu, Nepal from December 16 to 18, 2006 RESOLVE, as it is hereby RESOLVED to strongly urge the Philippine government to undertake the following measures:
 
Ensure that a thorough investigation be done on the recent spate of cases of enforced disappearances; bring to justice the perpetrators and put to an immediate stop these cases of human rights violations.
 
Ratify and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances;
 
Ensure that this domestic law shall include, among others, the civil liability of the perpetrators and the State that organized, acquiesced in or tolerated the act of disappearance, the non-applicability of the statute of limitations in the prosecution of the act and the exclusion of those found responsible from the benefit of the amnesty law; and
 
 
Guarantee that the domestic law runs in accordance with the international human rights standards on the protection of all persons from enforced or involuntary disappearance.
 
SIGNED BY THE DELEGATES Third AFAD Congress on December 19, 2006 in Kathmandu, Nepal
 

Copyright 2007  AFAD - Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Web Design by: www.listahan.org