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Group urges action on involuntary disappearances

Group urges action on involuntary disappearances
Published: August 08, 2012 08:13 AM GMT
Updated: August 08, 2012 08:13 AM GMT

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) launched a signature campaign in Cebu City today to press for ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The group is also calling for the passage of the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2011, said Mary Aileen Bacalso, AFAD secretary-general. They hope gaining the support of the people is enough to pressure Congress to pass the law, since the existing legal mechanisms are not enough to address serious human rights issues, Bacalso said. Enforced or involuntary disappearances are when governmental or other officials take a citizen into custody extra-judiciously. From November 1985 to September 2010, there were 2,136 reported involuntary disappearances in the Philippines, according to the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances.

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