Enforced disappearances: UN expert group examines over 2500 cases from 37 countries

GENEVA (15 September 2014) – The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is reviewing this week more than 2500 cases of enforced disappearance from 37 countries, including recent ones and updated information on previous cases.

The expert body will exchange information on these individual cases with State delegations, relatives of those who have disappeared and civil society representatives.

The Group’s five independent experts will also discuss thematic issues related to enforced disappearances, and examine allegations received regarding obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The Working Group’s 104th session takes place few days after the presentation to the Human Rights Council of its annual report*, as well as the reports on the country visit to Spain and on the follow-up to the recommendations made upon past visits to Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Working Group’s 104th session is held in private. A press release will be issued at the end of the session, on 19 September 2014.

(*) Check the reports: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Pages/ListReports.aspx

The Working Group is comprised of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Mr. Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina) and the Vice-Chair is Mr. Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon); other members are Mr. Olivier de Frouville (France), Ms. Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Ms. Houria Es-Slami (Morocco).

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. In view of the Working Group's humanitarian mandate, clarification occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person are clearly established. The Working Group continues to address cases of disappearances until they are resolved. It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disappearances/Pages/DisappearancesIndex.aspx

How to submit cases to the Working Group?:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/issues/Disappearances/Communication_form_E.doc

Read the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/EnforcedDisappearance.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact Mr. Ugo Cedrangolo (+41 22 917 9286 / ucedrangolo@ohchr.org) or write to wgeid@ohchr.org)