International Day of the Disappeared 2015

In 2015, NEFAD partnered with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Civil Peace Service, a German-based NGO, to commemorate the 2015 International Day of the Disappeared. Each year, on August 30, NEFAD brings together people across Nepal to remember the disappeared, and to bring awareness to the ongoing injustice of enforced disappearance.

Find out about the International Day of the Disappeared 2016.

Read about past events to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

In 2015, NEFAD commemorated the International Day of the Disappeared with a program of performance art and memory theater.

The Mandala Theater Group gave a performance in “playback theater,” a type of improvisational performance in which stories told by relatives of the disappeared were acted out through short scenes. The performance fostered empathy and solidarity between the actors, the relatives of the disappeared, and the audience. After the performance, NEFAD led a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of the victims of enforced disappearance. Throughout the day, NEFAD managed an information stall to answer questions and give updates on the transitional justice process.

Other highlights of the program included:

Poetry performances – Two poets, an artist, and a group of relatives of the missing read five poems written especially to honor the disappeared
Waiting Family – This art installation represents the long wait families have endured for news of their disappeared loved one
Tree of solidarity – After the poetry performance, the audience
was invited to write their own poems and messages of support and pin them on a tree as a gesture of empathy and solidarity
Memory installation – Utilizing clothes and other items of daily use, this art installation was created to symbolize what was left behind.
It represents the silencing of those who disappear, and their memory that still haunts their families and relatives
Photo display – A series of pictures documenting the missing and their families, as well as some of NEFAD’s past memory events