Committee on Enforced Disappearances opens eighth session

2 February 2015

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances opened this morning its eighth session, which will take place at the Palais Wilson until 13 February. The Committee adopted the agenda of the session and observed a minute of silence in memory of victims of enforced disappearances.

Simon Walker, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, opening the session, said that the Committee had a busy session ahead, with the review of reports of three States and the discussion on the issue of military justice in the context of enforced disappearances. He said that the budget cuts of the Office had affected all parts of the organization, but all efforts would be made to assist each Committee to reach their 2015 goals. The year 2015 would see the beginning of the full implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on treaty body strengthening, which included a review of the application of the Addis Ababa Guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of human rights treaty bodies.

Emmanuel Decaux, Chairperson of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, in opening remarks, stated that, while there were many reports being submitted, some of the States parties, including those which had ratified the Convention first, had not yet fulfilled that obligation. The Chairperson hoped that the constructive dialogue with Mexico, which would be the first State to be reviewed, would be fruitful, particularly given that it came at the time of dramatic circumstances in that country. The network of the 10 human rights treaty bodies was being strengthened, with formal and informal meetings of the Chairpersons, the latest one of which had discussed Sustainable Development Goals and the initiative “Human Rights against Violence.”

The next public meeting of the Committee will take place at 11:30 a.m. today, when the Committee will begin its consideration of the initial report of Mexico (CED/C/MEX/1). The Committee will continue its review of the report of Mexico this afternoon and finalize it tomorrow morning.

Opening Statement

SIMON WALKER, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Committee had a busy session ahead, with the review of reports of three States and the discussion on the issue of military justice in the context of enforced disappearances. Mr. Walker informed the Committee that Slovakia was the latest State to ratify the Convention, bringing the number of States parties to 44. Ratifications were slow, but were nonetheless progressing steadily. Universal ratification ought to remain the goal, even if progress towards it could admittedly be faster.

A less welcome development had been the budget crisis facing the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with significant extra-budgetary resource cuts in late 2014. The cuts had affected all parts of the organization and the Human Rights Treaties Division was not spared. In such an environment, the Office would focus its support in 2015 on assisting each Committee to reach the targets set out in the resolution in terms of numbers of lists of issues, concluding observations and communications. It could only be hoped that the situation would improve in the future.

The year 2015 would also see the beginning of the full implementation of General Assembly resolution 68/268 on treaty body strengthening. OHCHR had started collecting information for a report on the implementation of the resolution every two years, which would review efforts to reduce the backlog and to harmonize working methods. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances had always been in the forefront of harmonization efforts and did not have a backlog of reports. Tracking progress of implementation of the resolution also included a review of the application of the Addis Ababa Guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of human rights treaty bodies, specifically by requesting Chairs to keep States parties updated on their implementation. The Committee might want to consider the establishment of an internal mechanism to keep track of progress.

Mr. Walker further raised the issue of the choice of three standing languages of the Committee, reminding that resolution 68/268 made only limited provision for exceptional languages and such provision had to be stretched to cover the needs of all Committees. He therefore urged the Committee to exercise moderation in the number of meetings and documents for which an exceptional language was sought.

Mr. Walker also expressed satisfaction that the Secretary-General had recently called for a universal, human rights-based development agenda in his Synthesis Report on the Sustainable Development Goals. The draft goals included references to economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. The recent informal meeting of the Chairpersons had adopted a joint statement on the post-2015 development agenda in which it had strongly urged Member States to maintain and strengthen consistent alignment with human rights.

Statement by the Committee Chairperson

EMMANUEL DECAUX, Chairperson of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, noted that the current session was marking the end of the first cycle of four years. He thanked all of the colleagues for their important and dedicated work.

The current session was witness to the implementation in practice of article 29 of the Convention that all States parties had to present their reports to the Committee within two years. Some of the States parties, including those which had ratified the Convention first, had not yet fulfilled that obligation. The Convention was a “roof” which the Committee ought to utilize in good sense, including also by applying all of the procedures at its disposal, including field visits. The Committee would also continue to undertake efforts not to allow a backlog to occur, especially if the conditions on the ground were critical.

For the first time, the Committee had five States parties on the agenda of one session, with three States lined up for the constructive dialogue – Mexico, Serbia and Armenia, and the adoption of the lists of issues of two other States for the following session – Iraq and Montenegro. The Chairperson hoped that the constructive dialogue with Mexico would be fruitful, particularly given that it came at the time of dramatic circumstances in that country. The report of Mexico had been awaited by the Committee for a long time.

Mr. Decaux stated that the network of the 10 human rights treaty bodies was being strengthened, with formal and informal meetings of the Chairpersons, the latest one being at Wilton Park, a fortnight earlier, which had discussed Sustainable Development Goals and the initiative “Human Rights against Violence.” It was important that all the Chairpersons addressed fundamental issues with the same voice. The meeting of Chairpersons in 2012 had adopted the Addis Ababa Principles on the independence and impartiality of experts. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances was very much committed to rigorous interpretation of the principles which were at the foundation of the credibility and efficiency of the entire system.

The following meeting of the Chairpersons would take place in San Jose in Costa Rica in June 2015, where it was hoped that the “Principles of San Jose” would be adopted, when the Committee on Enforced Disappearances would take over the presidency of the meeting of Chairpersons.

The Committee then proceeded to adopt the agenda of the meeting. It also held a minute of silence for the victims of enforced disappearances.
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