Committee on Enforced Disappearances holds eighth session from 2 to 13 February 2015

Committee on Enforced Disappearances

BACKGROUND RELEASE  

29 January 2015

Committee to Consider Reports of Mexico, Armenia and Serbia

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Committee responsible for reviewing how States implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, will hold its eighth session from 2 to 13 February 2015 at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, in Geneva.

At the opening of the session on 2 February, the Committee will meet in public at 10 a.m. to hear a statement from a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Committee’s Chairperson, followed by a minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances and adoption of the agenda.

The Committee will consider the report of Mexico CED/C/MEX/1 on Monday, 2 February at 11:30 a.m. and at  3 p.m. and on Tuesday, 3 February at 10 a.m.  The report of Armenia CED/C/ARM/1 will be considered on Tuesday, 3 February at 3 p.m. and on Wednesday, 4 February at 10 a.m.  The report of Serbia CED/C/SRB/1 will be reviewed on Wednesday, 4 February at 3 p.m. and Thursday, 5 February at 10 a.m.

Also during the session, the Committee will review communications, requests for urgent actions and information regarding alleged violations of the Convention.  It will examine and adopt lists of issues on the reports submitted by Montenegro and Iraq, which will be considered in future sessions.

During the session, the Committee will also meet with States, relevant United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions, and non-governmental organizations on matters related to the implementation of the Convention.  In addition, the Committee will discuss issues related to the treaty body strengthening process, including harmonization.

Further information on the Committee and its eighth session can be found here.

Background

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances is the monitory body which oversees the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force on 23 December 2010. To date, 44 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Honduras, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Lithuania, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay and Zambia.

The Convention states that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance. The Convention contains a universally agreed definition of enforced disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law”.

The main goals of the Convention are to hold States responsible for the protection of persons from enforced disappearances by defeating impunity, to prevent new cases of enforced disappearances and to guarantee the right to the truth and to obtain reparation of both the disappeared and their families.

Committee Experts

The members of the Committee are: Mohammed Al-Obaidi (Iraq), Mamadou Badio Camara (Senegal), Santiago Corcuera Cabezut (Mexico), Emmanuel Decaux (France), Alvaro Garcé Garcia y Santos (Uruguay), Luciano Hazan (Argentina), Rainer Huhle (Germany), Suela Janina (Albania), Juan José Lopez Ortega (Spain), and Kimio Yakushiji (Japan). 


Provisional Timetable of Public Meetings

Monday, 2 February

10 – 10:30 a.m.    Opening of session, statement from a representative of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, statement by the Chairperson of the Committee, adoption of the agenda

11:30 a.m.            Consideration of the report of Mexico CED/C/MEX/1

3 p.m.                   Mexico (continued)

Tuesday, 3 February

10 a.m.                 Mexico (continued)

3 p.m.                   Consideration of the report of Armenia CED/C/ARM/1

Wednesday, 4 February

10 a.m.                 Armenia (continued)

3 p.m.                   Consideration of the report of Serbia CED/C/SRB/1

Thursday, 5 February

10 a.m.                 Serbia (continued)

3 p.m.                   Meeting with States parties

4 p.m.                   Meeting with UN bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental Organizations

4:30 p.m.              Meeting with National Human Rights Institutions

5:00 p.m.              Meeting with Non-governmental organizations

Friday, 13 February

3 p.m.                   Presentation by the Rapporteur of the informal report of eighth session

3:30 p.m.              Presentation by the Rapporteur of the programme of work of the ninth session

4 p.m.                   Closing statement by the Chairperson

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For use of the information media; not an official record