KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) has won Asia’s top human rights award which was announced on Thursday.
AFAD is headed by renowned human rights activist, Khurram Parvez, who has been detained under Public Safety Act (PSA) and lodged in Kotbalwal jail Jammu.
The AFAD has won Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award 2016 for its “efforts to resolve” the problem of forced disappearances in Asia.
“AFAD has made indelible contributions in pushing states to address the rights of families of the disappeared and in seeking justice for the victims,” said Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan, chairman of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, which presents the award, after announcing the winner at a news conference in Taiwan, Japan yesterday.
He said that AFAD was a major force behind the United Nation’s adoption in 2006 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, and has in recent years been active in lobbying Asian governments to sign and ratify the convention.
Su said that many instances of politically motivated disappearances also occurred in Taiwan when the nation was under authoritarian rule.
Founded in 1998 in Manila, AFAD facilitates searches for people who are abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization, and works to ensure the attainment of truth, justice, redress and the reconstruction of the collective memory of the missing.
J&K Police arrested Khurram from his home in Srinagar on September 15 and 16 intervening night. He was arrested a day after authorities stopped him in Delhi from boarding a flight to Geneva where he was going to attend the 33rd United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) session.
Khurram Pervez (39), Chairperson of Asian Federation Against involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and Program Coordinator of Srinagar based Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He was kept in Kothibagh Police Station before being shifted to Kupwara jail and then shifted to Srinagar again before being driven to Jammu jail under PSA.
The award was established by the foundation in 2006 by Taiwan Foundation for Democracy to recognize individuals or organizations in Asia who have made significant contributions to promoting democracy through peaceful means.
Recipients of the award include Reporters Without Borders, Rescue Foundation of India, End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes International, as well as Kim Seong-min, founder and director of Free North Korea Radio.
The award ceremony will be held on December 10 this year which is International Human Rights Day, and comes with a prize of US$100,000.
Funded mainly by the government, the foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting democracy and human rights.
