For the past five years, NEFAD has observed the International Day of the Disappeared. In 2016, NEFAD held a series events in Kathmandu and throughout Nepal to remember the missing and bring attention the continuing injustice of forcible disappearance.

Art and the murals in the memory ceremony, 30th August, 2016

August 15 – NEFAD and ICRC sent postcards to each family of a victim of enforced disappearance to commemorate the missing.

August 29 – NEFAD invited government ministers, families of the disappeared, and members of the community for a commemoration ceremony.

Waiting for answers. An elderly woman holds a picture of her son – a victim of an enforced disappearance – during a program to commemorate International Day of the Disappeared, International Day of the Disappeared Program, Pokhara, Nepal

August 30 – During the day, NEFAD and Mandala Theater Group hosted “play-back performances”, a type of theater that provides an opportunity for families of the disappeared to share their stories. 

During 2015’s events, actors from the Mandala Theater Group performed short plays based on the experiences of families of the disappeared.

In the evening, a candlelight vigil honored the memory of the victims of enforced disappearance.