About FIND

  • Print
Details
Category: About
Published on Thursday, January 13, 2011
Share
Download SocButtons

FIND VISION, MISSION AND GOALS

The Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) is a nationwide mass organization of families, relatives, friends and colleagues of the disappeared victims and surfaced desaparecidos that advocates human rights and participative empowerment. Founded on November 23, 1985 amidst the escalating mass protest against the repressive Marcos dictatorship, FIND continues to resolutely struggle for the eventual global eradication of enforced or involuntary disappearance. Guided and motivated by the principles of truth, justice, freedom and democracy, it commits itself to its avowed vision, mission, goals and objectives.

OUR VISION

FIND believes that the phenomenon of involuntary disappearance has its roots in the evils of society, and unless these are eradicated, the State-perpetrated offense will persist. The exploitative and oppressive system breeds poverty, backwardness and intense violation of basic human rights. FIND thus envisions a society where there are no more human rights violations. It dreams of a society where sovereignty, democracy, justice, peace and integrity of creation reign.

OUR MISSION

FIND untiringly searches for the disappeared and fights for justice through participative empowerment of its members. It upholds and actively works for the protection of human rights, particularly the protection of persons from enforced or involuntary disappearance, and links arms with local and international groups working for justice and peace in the spirit of respect, trust and mutual cooperation.

OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

  • Unite all the families, relatives and friends of the disappeared and those who reappeared or found alive for active participation in the people’s struggle toward national independence and democracy, as necessary pre-conditions for the eradication of the practice of enforced disappearance.
  • Continuously document cases of involuntary disappearance and search for the disappeared.
  • Intensify the campaign for an end to the phenomenon of involuntary disappearance--one of the most cruel forms of human rights violations and a crime against humanity--and demand that perpetrators be penalized and that justice, including indemnification, be rendered to the victims and their families. Cooperate closely and actively with local and international human rights advocates, and enlighten the people on the practice of involuntary disappearance and the root causes of the phenomenon.
  • Support the families and relatives of the victims, especially those in dire need to overcome the anguish, anxiety and dislocation brought upon them by the disappearance of their loved ones and work for their rehabilitation and reintegration with society.
  • Build organizational sustainability through the establishment of livelihood programs including cooperatives.
  • Unite the children of the victims for them to gain strength from one another and hasten their rehabilitation and that of their families.

OUR DIFFERENT LINES OF WORK

Search and Documentation

  • Quick response search missions
  • Continuous investigation and documentation of cases
  • Exhumations of victims' remains

Organizing and Education

  • From nine founding families in the National Capital Region to over 1,000 individual members in nine regional chapters nationwide and overseas
  • Human rights education and trainings

National and International Advocacy

  • Campaigns for justice including legal actions against perpetrators
  • Lobby for the enactment of an anti-enforced disappearance law and the ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearance
  • Campaigns to make enforced disappearance a societal concern

Psychosocial Rehabilitation

  • Psychosocial therapy rehabilitation sessions
  • Various forms of welfare assistance--medical, educational, emergency, death etc.

Livelihood Development and Cooperative Building

  • Economic sustainability by engaging in cooperatives and various small-scale livelihood projects such as catering services, animal dispersal and other productive activities

Rights and Welfare of the Children of the Disappeared

  • Theater and art therapy workshops
  • Skills trainings, human rights education and multi-level scholarships for the children of the disappeared incorporated in appropriate regular programs of FIND

HOW CAN YOU HELP

  • Report cases of enforced disappearance to FIND and/or a human rights office most accessible to you.
  • Support the immediate enactment of an anti-disappearance or involuntary disappearance law and the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced  Disappearance.
  • Urge government and concerned authorities to investigate cases of enforced disappearances through letters, phone-in and text-in comments in radio and TV shows and public affairs programs, and issue opinions through social networks, etc.
  • Join and support fact-finding and/or exhumation missions.
  • Offer material, logistical, professional and other technical support.
  • Provide free access to libraries and resource centers, activity rooms, forensic laboratories, counseling and therapy rooms, transient centers for relatives participating in Metro-Manila-based activities, means of transportation, etc.
  • Share expertise by offering free training, counseling and consultancy.