GENEVA (6 May 2015) – The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is reviewing almost 400 cases of enforced disappearance from 30 countries, including recent ones and updated information on previous cases during its current meeting in Geneva, from 6 – 15 May.

The expert body will exchange information on these individual cases and other relevant issues with State delegations, relatives of those who have disappeared, civil society representatives and national human rights institutions.

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 members will also adopt the Working Group’s annual report and the reports on the regional visit to Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo* and Montenegro and they will discuss the forthcoming visits to Peru (1 – 10 June 2015), Sri Lanka (3 – 12 August 2015), Turkey (16 – 20 November 2015) and other future country visits, as well as other activities of the Working Group.

The Working Group’s 106th session is held in private. A press release will be issued at the end of the session, on 16 May 2015.

*Reference to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1244.

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 Ms. Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), other members are Mr. Bernard Duhaime (Canada), Mr. Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon); 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

The Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

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 Ms. Marlene Urscheler (+41 22 917 9396 or murscheler@ohchr.org / wgeid@ohchr.org)