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Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to review 690 cases from 30 countries at its 134th session
13 September 2024
GENEVA – The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will hold its 134th session from 16 to 25 September 2024 in Geneva to examine 690 cases from 30 countries and review 19 cases of acts tantamount to enforced disappearances attributed to three non-state actors.
Four independent experts will convene at this session, following the resignation of Angkana Neelapaijit, who was a member of the Working Group between 2022-2024. The members recognise her dedication and contribution as a member.
The experts will hold meetings with relatives of forcibly disappeared persons, State representatives, civil society groups and other stakeholders to exchange information on individual cases and structural issues and challenges related to enforced disappearances.
They will also examine allegations regarding obstacles in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, such as legislation, practices, or systemic failures in addressing cases of enforced disappearances and acts tantamount.
During the session, the Working Group and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances are also planning to adopt a joint statement on the notion of so-called “short-term enforced disappearances”.
The session will coincide with the presentation of the Working Group’s annual report to the 57th session of the Human Rights Council on 16 September. The Working Group will also report to the Human Rights Council on its visit to the African Union judicial and human rights organs and other subregional bodies, and present two follow-up reports to the recommendations made after its visit to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as well as a thematic report on enforced disappearances and elections.
The Working Group will also hold a public panel discussion and launch of the study on enforced disappearances and elections on 23 September at 15:00 hrs (CET). Another event on the engagement with the African Union judicial and human rights organs will be organised on 25 September at 15:00 hrs (CET).
Both side-events will take place in Room IX of the Palais des Nations.
The Working Group’s decisions during the 134th session will be reflected in its next post-sessional report. Sessions are held in private.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances comprises five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Ms. Aua Baldé (Guinea-Bissau) and the Vice-Chair is Ms. Gabriella Citroni (Italy); other members are Ms. Grażyna Baranowska (Poland); and Ms. Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez (Mexico).
The Working Group was established by the then UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It endeavours to establish a channel of communication between the families and the Governments concerned, to ensure that individual cases are investigated, with the objective of clarifying the whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.
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