31 August 2022

Manila:  On the International Day of the Disappeared 2022, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls for the protection, NOT PERSECUTION, of human rights defenders and advocates.

Years after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on Enforced Disappearance and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), the practice of enforced disappearance chillingly persists. Enforced disappearance is defined as a crime against humanity and the worst type of human rights violation as it puts a person completely outside the protection of the law.