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21 August 2000
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WGEID
61st session
21 - 25 August 2000
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights this morning opened its sixty-first session in Geneva.
The Working Group, established in 1980, assists the relatives of disappeared persons in ascertaining their fate and whereabouts and acts as a channel of communication between the families and the governments concerned. There are now more than 49,070 cases of disappearance in the Working Group's books, of which 46,054 are under active consideration, as they have not yet been clarified. The countries with the highest number of outstanding cases since 1980 are: Iraq (16,384 outstanding cases); Sri Lanka (12,113); Argentina (3,375); Guatemala (2,982); Peru (2,638); and El Salvador (2,270). The number of countries with outstanding cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance was 69 in 1999.
During 1999, the Working Group requested information on 300 new cases of alleged disappearance to 23 countries; 115 of those cases allegedly occurred in 1999. The highest number of cases for 1999 concern Indonesia (50) and Colombia (27).
The Working Group has established an urgent action procedure authorizing its Chairman to process immediately cases that allegedly occurred in the three months prior to the date on which they were reported to the Group. During 1999, the Group sent urgent action appeals to governments concerning 125 cases.
The Working Group is also concerned with the protection of relatives of missing persons, of their legal counsel, of witnesses to disappearances or their families, of members of organizations of relatives and of other non-governmental organizations or individuals concerned with disappearances.
The Working Group regularly transmits to the governments concerned a summary of allegations received from relatives of missing persons and non-governmental organizations with regard to violations of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1992, the Declaration affirms that any act of enforced disappearance is an offense to human dignity. It also lays down guidelines for all States and strongly encourages them to take effective legislative, administrative and judicial measures to prevent and terminate acts of enforced disappearances in territories under their jurisdiction. To that end, States are obliged to make such acts offences under criminal law to establish civil liability.
The Working Group is headed by Ivan Tosevski (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) as Chairman-Rapporteur, and is composed by Messrs. Agha Hilaly (Pakistan), Diego Garcia-Sayan (Peru) and Manfred Nowak (Austria). The Group meets three times a year. Cases are submitted to it by representatives of human rights organizations, associations of relatives of missing persons, and families or witnesses directly concerned with reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances. The Working Group retains cases in its files as long as the exact whereabouts of the missing persons have not been determined.
The Working Group will conclude its session on 25 August.
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61st session
21 - 25 August 2000
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights this morning opened its sixty-first session in Geneva.
The Working Group, established in 1980, assists the relatives of disappeared persons in ascertaining their fate and whereabouts and acts as a channel of communication between the families and the governments concerned. There are now more than 49,070 cases of disappearance in the Working Group's books, of which 46,054 are under active consideration, as they have not yet been clarified. The countries with the highest number of outstanding cases since 1980 are: Iraq (16,384 outstanding cases); Sri Lanka (12,113); Argentina (3,375); Guatemala (2,982); Peru (2,638); and El Salvador (2,270). The number of countries with outstanding cases of enforced or involuntary disappearance was 69 in 1999.
During 1999, the Working Group requested information on 300 new cases of alleged disappearance to 23 countries; 115 of those cases allegedly occurred in 1999. The highest number of cases for 1999 concern Indonesia (50) and Colombia (27).
The Working Group has established an urgent action procedure authorizing its Chairman to process immediately cases that allegedly occurred in the three months prior to the date on which they were reported to the Group. During 1999, the Group sent urgent action appeals to governments concerning 125 cases.
The Working Group is also concerned with the protection of relatives of missing persons, of their legal counsel, of witnesses to disappearances or their families, of members of organizations of relatives and of other non-governmental organizations or individuals concerned with disappearances.
The Working Group regularly transmits to the governments concerned a summary of allegations received from relatives of missing persons and non-governmental organizations with regard to violations of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1992, the Declaration affirms that any act of enforced disappearance is an offense to human dignity. It also lays down guidelines for all States and strongly encourages them to take effective legislative, administrative and judicial measures to prevent and terminate acts of enforced disappearances in territories under their jurisdiction. To that end, States are obliged to make such acts offences under criminal law to establish civil liability.
The Working Group is headed by Ivan Tosevski (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) as Chairman-Rapporteur, and is composed by Messrs. Agha Hilaly (Pakistan), Diego Garcia-Sayan (Peru) and Manfred Nowak (Austria). The Group meets three times a year. Cases are submitted to it by representatives of human rights organizations, associations of relatives of missing persons, and families or witnesses directly concerned with reports of enforced or involuntary disappearances. The Working Group retains cases in its files as long as the exact whereabouts of the missing persons have not been determined.
The Working Group will conclude its session on 25 August.
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