Committee on Enforced Disappearances Closes Twenty-Sixth Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Cambodia, Burkina Faso and Honduras

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances this afternoon closed its twenty-sixth session after adopting its concluding observations on the periodic report of Cambodia, and on additional information submitted by Burkina Faso and Honduras.

Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro, Committee Rapporteur, recalled that during the opening of the session, the Committee paid tribute to the victims of enforced disappearance, and heard the testimony of Andrea Torres Bautista, human rights defender and relative of Nydia Erika Bautista, disappeared in Colombia in 1987.

In addition to adopting concluding observations on Cambodia, Burkina Faso and Honduras, the Committee also adopted lists of issues in the absence of a report for Belize, as well as in relation to the report of Malawi, in preparation for future reviews.

The Committee held productive meetings with States parties, civil society organizations and victims. It also held discussions on its methods of work and adopted several amendments to its Rules of Procedure. During the session, the Committee also adopted its report on the urgent action mechanism, its annual report to the General Assembly, and the provisional agenda for its twenty-seventh session.

In addition, the Committee continued working on its draft joint declaration with the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances on short-term enforced disappearances; took the decision to develop a project on the ways enforced disappearances impacted girls and women; and continued planning the World Forum on Enforced Disappearances, to be held on 14-16 January 2025.

Olivier de Frouville, Committee Chairperson, expressed thanks to all those who had contributed to the twenty-sixth session. The Committee was united in the one goal, to contribute to combatting enforced disappearances and respect the rights of victims. The Committee had examined three countries, which had shared in the experience of enforced disappearance. Often women were at the forefront and faced discrimination, stigmatisation and threat, whilst the perpetrators of enforced disappearances enjoyed impunity. The Convention was a political sign of commitment to the national and global fight against enforced disappearance. The Committee called on all States that had not yet done so to accede to the Convention.

All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage, where documents relating to the Committee’s reviews of the reports Cambodia, Burkina Faso and Honduras will soon be available. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

The Committee’s twenty-seventh session is scheduled to be held from 23 September to 4 October, where it will review the reports of Ukraine, Morocco and Malta.

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