About us

Welcome all on the site of the Organization International AFD ” Alliance for Freedom and Dignity ” – Belgium office.

THE AFD is a non-profit organization established in 2006, and which gave itself for missions the defense and the promotion of human rights worldwide.

Human rights are a byword for recognition and dignity, and assert the freedom for every human being to be determined. It is in the light of these universal principles, expressed in the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ” all the human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights. They are endowed with reason and with consciousness and have to act the ones to the others in a spirit of brotherhood “, which the AFD works to defend and to promote human rights.

By way of reflections:

Historically, the humanity thought of the relations of people between them, men with the power, the resolution of the crises and conflicts, the limits of the rights and the personal and collective freedoms, the exercise and the limits of the powers, etc.

Every civilization, every culture, gave rise to the definition and to the implementation of rules and laws. Reflections, manners, texts, recognizing certain rights for the people, as the members of a given community, or putting inalienable principles, anticipate certain aspects of human rights such as they eventually took shape. However, the central place which occupies today the assertion according to which «the man is source and owner of the law “, although it was not totally absent in ancient manners, is relatively recent and opens, from this point of view, a new era. Today, no State dares to adopt openly laws that are not respecting human rights; they guarantee, at least in theory (for the practice it is another story), the liberties as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The notion of freedom is intrinsically linked to the essence of the human being. He or she longs for personal freedom from birth. Only the set of social rules (manners, religious and\or legal texts, etc.) will allow to address this desire which, however justifiable it is, could become a barrier to socialization if it is not accompanied by the statement of rules concerning the relation to the Other one, whether the other is a member of family, power, or society. So, the human being builds himself, throughout his life, in relation to rules and values. ” We release ourselves only by organizing ourselves ” claim repeatedly the specialists of the education. The notion of rights can not be separated from that of duties.

Besides, The feeling of freedom will be directly linked to “dignity”.

If the principle of dignity of the person is not a new one, it must be noted that the use of this term in substantive law is recent. Its inclusion in a number of constitutions and the enhancement of the prescriptive constitutional effects made a significant contribution to this evolution. However its meaning, its impact and its place within the fundamental rights are the object of contrasted and sometimes divergent appreciations, not only according to countries, but also in the doctrine and the national case laws. Therefore, we have a great difficulty to obtain the agreement of States, on an international scale, on the issue of the violation of human dignity. The government recognizes that the notion of dignity is excessively broad, however, by refusing to sanction the violations or by attaching certain conditions to it, the government actually limits the protection.

The definition of human dignity depends on cultural and historical factors. There is no question that everything that enhances the material well being, whether it is on an individual or collective level, plays in favor of the human dignity. But, from a religious point of view, every preparation to the hereafter is also a respect of dignity. Our perception of life depends, indeed, on our perception of death, and this perception also determines, consequently, our perception of freedom and of dignity. The difficulty to find a common definition of the human dignity stems from the difficulty to define what makes the humanity of a human being.

Within the framework of this debate, a distinction was nevertheless established between “human dignity ” and ” dignity of the human person “, concepts corresponding to the frame of human rights. From this point of view, it is thus possible to put, as common ground, the principle according to which the dignity of the man requires that he is treated, on no account, as an object, but that he can be, in any circumstances, everywhere, recognized as a full subject.

The commitments of the AFD:

In face of the appalling situation of human rights in the world, the AFD is committed to take every possible action to end the multiple violations of human rights, help deprived people and victims so that justice is done and to raise public awareness regarding the critical issue of freedom and human dignity.

Our means are limited but effective. By the work of raising awareness, education, it is possible to combine, in the end, the strenght of the civil society, women and men, around a common project, to lay the foundations for a new human building, based on the values of brotherhood, justice and dignity.

Such an alliance will allow to cross the wall of silence and hypocrisy in which so many citizens of the world are jailed, whom fundamental rights are systematically denied. They are trapped in serious humanitarian crises, carefully maintained by certain regimes and political systems.

It is to remember that “law” is not a motionless notion. The traditions and the customs, as well as the collective consciousness, are constantly changing, it is thus allowed to work on a progress of the law, taking into account this permanent evolution of the Man.

This progress has to place the Man in the heart of the reflections, by asking questions about the essence of life and existence. In this view, such a progress has to put in critical perspective the natural law such as it was conceived by the Enlightenment philosophers, as well as the foundations of human rights such as they are expressed and promoted today.

Dr. In. El Ouazzani

Predisent of AFD International