Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

Description

AFAD is a federation of human rights organizations that works on enforced and involuntary disappearances across Asia. Its full name is the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. It was founded on 4 June 1998 in Manila, Philippines, and brings together organizations of families, relatives and friends of the disappeared, along with surfaced disappeared people and advocates for their rights.

Its mission centers on achieving truth, justice and redress for victims, and rebuilding the collective memory of those who disappeared. It pursues these goals through international solidarity, campaigning and lobbying on the issue of enforced disappearance in Asia. It also builds the capacity of its member organizations through training and empowerment activities.

AFAD follows international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN treaty protecting all persons from enforced disappearance, whose adoption it helped bring about. It works with FEDEFAM, the Latin American federation of relatives of the disappeared, and with the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances. In 2016 it received the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award.

Member organizations include groups from countries such as Nepal, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Bangladesh, together with individual members.