IMPORTANCE OF THE CONVENTION

AFAD MEMBERS

Why is it important for States to ratify the Convention and to ensure its immediate entry into force?
A State that ratifies the Convention will be compelled to enact the necessary domestic legislation to ensure that it fulfills its international obligations. This will affect States in their national policies especially in the area of security and political repression, where they will be obliged to act in a humane manner.

The Federations Member-Organizations MemberODHIKAR, Bangladesh ODHIKAR, Association of Parents of Disappeared Association Persons (APDP), Kashmir, India Indonesian Association of Families of the Indonesian Disappeared (IKOHI), Indonesia Commission for the Disappeared Victims of Commission Violence (KontraS), Indonesia Advocacy Forum, Nepal Advocacy Conflict Victims Society for Conflict Justice (CVSJ), Nepal Truth and Justice Commission (TJC), Truth Pakistan Families of the Disappeared (FOD), Sri Lanka Families Justice for Peace Foundation (JPF), Thailand Justice Relatives Committee of the May 1992 Heroes, Relatives Thailand Perkumpulan HAK Perkumpulan (The HAK Association), Timor Leste
The AFAD works in close coordination with the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and other members of the Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (CAED). The AFAD is also the present Focal Point of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED).

ASIAN FEDERATION AGAINST INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES

AFAD

What is the Conventions Importance to the Peoples of Asia?

Asia, at present, lacks a strong regional legal instrument or procedural mechanism to protect, promote and uphold human rights, be it a Convention, a Commission or a Court. The effectiveness of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission still remains to be proven amidst various skepticisms on its mandate. In comparison, Latin America has the Inter-American Human Rights System and the Inter-American Convention on Enforced Disappearances while Europe has several human rights instruments such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. The UN is the only venue that the families of the disappeared in the Asian region can use. Moreover, at present, not a single country in Asia has a national law criminalizing enforced disappearance as an autonomous crime under domestic law. Thus, the Convention, if ratified and duly implemented, will facilitate the enactment of pieces of national legislation criminalizing enforced disappearance, which will also have a crucial preventive role.

Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) Secretariat Address: Rms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center (PSSC) Building, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1103 Phone: 00-63-2-4907862; Telefax: 00-63-2-4546759 Official mobile number: 00-63-917-792-4058 Email: afad@surfshop.net.ph, Website: www.afad-online.org

We, the Asian organizations of families, relatives and friends of victims of involuntary disappearances, form ourselves into a federation of human rights organizations and human rights advocates known as the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances or AFAD.

THE ASIAN FEDERATION AGAINST INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES (AFAD)

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is a federation of human rights organizations working directly on the issue of involuntary disappearances in Asia. Envisioning a world without desaparecidos, the Federation was founded on 4 June 1998 in Manila, Philippines. The Federation was established based on the common phenomena of enforced disappearances in many Asian countries and the imperative of regional and international solidarity in order to strongly respond to the problem.

AFAD Principles
We uphold and believe in the U n i v e r s a l Declaration of Human Rights, especially in the right to life, dignity and selfdetermination regardless of age, gender, race, beliefs, creed and culture. Moreover, we uphold the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons From Enforced Disappearance, the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment. In the pursuit of our objectives, we are guided and motivated by the principles of truth, justice, reconstruction of the historical memory, freedom and democracy, international solidarity.

In accordance with the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, AFAD defines enforced or involuntary disappearance as follows:

Enforced disappearance is
considered to be 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.

WHAT IS ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE?

AFAD Objectives
1. Promote and forge international solidarity among organizations of the families of the disappeared in Asia and with similar formations in other continents; 2. Provide assistance to memberorganizations in ensuring a stronger response to the phenomena of enforced disappearances; 3. Conduct campaign and lobby work in addressing the issue of enforced disappearances in Asia, thus ensuring the attainment of truth, justice, redress and the reconstruction of the collective memory of the disappeared; 4. Strengthen the capacity of the federation and its member-organizations through various forms of empowerment and capacitybuilding activities.

What is the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance?
The Convention is a treaty of universal scope, which will be legally binding for the States that ratify it. Its text was approved on 23 September 2005; adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 27 June 2006; adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006 and opened for signatures on 7 February 2007 in Paris, France. On that occasion, 57 States signed it. Since then, signatures have increased to 88. As of June 2011, 27 States have ratified the Convention. It entered into force on 23 December 2010, that is 30 days after the 20th instrument of ratification was deposited with the UN Secretary-General by Iraq. As of the time of writing, Japan, Kazakhstan and Iraq are the only Asian States that have ratified the Convention.