Asian
Federation
Against
Involuntary
Disappearances
Rms.
310311
Philippine
Social
Science
Center
Building
Commnnwe'lth
Avenue,
Diliman"
1103
Quezon
City
Philippines
Telefa*
ffi4324!t45l759
TelephoneNumber fiH32427t15!X
Mobile
fi){3-9177924058
Email
afad@surfshop
net.phwebsite
www.afad-online.org
November
26,2011
Bangkok,Thailand
MR
RAFENDI
DJAMIN
Chairperson
ASEAN
IntergovernmentalCommission
on
Human
Rights
Iakarta, Indonesia
DearMr.
Chairperson,
Warm
greetings!The
Asian
Federation
Against Involuntary
Disappearances
(AFAD),
a
regionalfederation
of
human
rights
organizations
working directly
on
the
issue
enforced
disappearances
from
Bangladesh,
India,
Indonesia,
Nepal,
Philippines,
SriLanka, Thailand,Timor-Leste
would like
tocongrat
rlate
yo,tfor
yotn
great
contribution
to
the
protection
of
human
rightsin
the
region.
Our
Federation
is
alsothe
Focal
Point
of
the
InternationalCoalition
Against
Enforced
Disappearances
(CAED),
which
is
a
globalcoalition
of
40
member-organizations
campaigning
for
theratification
of
the
InternationalConvention
for
the
Protection
of
All
Persons
from
Enforced
Disappearances
(the
Convention).
Aswe
are
concluding
our 2011
Council
meeting,
we
deem
it
appropriate
to
address
you
with
regard
to
the
scourge
of
enforced
disappearances
in
our
region.As
we all
know,
such
violations
continue
to
take
place
tluoughout
thecontinent affecting
thousands
of
people
and
their
families.
Asunderlined
by
the
UN
Working
Group
on
Enforced
or
Involuntary
Disappearances
in
its
last
annual
report,
Asia
has
submitted
thehighest
number
of
cases.
The
establishment
of
the
ASEAN
Intergovernmental
Commission
on
Human
Rights
(AICHR)
is
amuch-awaited
development
to
whichwe
watch
with
optimism
and
from
which
weexpect
soundsupport
in
the
prevention
andsuppression
of
enforceddisappearances.
Inthis
sense,
the
AFAD
salls
on
the
AICHR
to
refer
to
thepractice
of
enforced
disappearance
in
the
ASEAN
Declaration
on
Human
Rights,
higtrlighting
that
it
is
one
of
the
worst forms
of
human rights
violations.
As
stated
by the
1992
UN
Declaration
for
the Protection
of
All
Persons
from
EnforcedDisappearance,
it
is
agrave
and
flagrant
violation
of
the
human
rightsand
fundamental freedomsproclaimed
in
the
Universal
Declaration
of
HumanRightswhich
inflicts
severe
sufferingonvictims
and
their
families.
It
constitutes
a
violation
of
therules
of
intemational
law
guaranteeing,amongothers,
the
rightto
recognition
as
a
person
before the
law,
the
right
to
liberf
and
security
of
the
personandthe
right
not tobe
subjected
totorture
and
othercruel,inhuman
or
degrading
heatnent
orpunishment.
It
also
violates
or
constitutes
a
gravethreat
to
the
right
to
life.
In
fact,the
recentlyentered
into
forceConvention
aftms
thenonderogable
right
of
all
persons
not
to
be
subjected
to
enforced
disappearance
s.
Enforced
disappearances
persist
in
many
Asian
countries and
families
of
victims
are
in
a
situation
between
hope
and
despair.
Hence,
we
call
on
AICHR
to
take
the
necessarymeasures
to
Leave a Comment