Enforced Disappearances: UN expert group launches an official mission to Peru

GENEVA (28 May 2015) – A delegation of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances* will undertake an official visit to Peru from 1 to 10 June 2015 to gather information on cases of enforced disappearances in the country.

During the ten-day mission, human rights experts Ariel Dulitzky -who currently heads the Working Group- and Houria Es-Slami  will also study the measures adopted by the State to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances, including issues related to truth, justice and reparation for the victims of enforced disappearances.

The expert group’s delegation, who visits the country at the invitation of the Government, will travel to Lima, Ayacucho and Huanuco and meet with State officials, both at the national and provincial levels, as well as with relatives of disappeared persons, representatives of civil society organizations and representatives of relevant UN agencies.

The independent experts will be accompanied by staff members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Working Group will hold a press conference at the end of the visit, on 10 June 2015, at 14.00 hours at the UN complex in Lima, Av. Pérez Araníbar 750 (Ex. Av. Del Ejército) Magdalena.

A final report on the mission will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in 2016.

(*) 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 other members are Mr. Bernard Duhaime (Canada), Ms. Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mr. Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon), and Ms. Houria Es-Slami (Morocco).

The Working Group was established by the 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: www.wgeid.org

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://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/disappear/docs/Communication_form_E.doc

UN Human Rights, country page – Peru: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/LACRegion/Pages/PEIndex.aspx

For more information and media requests:
Before the mission: Marlene Urscheler (+41 22 917 9396 / murscheler@ohchr.org)
During the mission: Lizbeth Vélez (+511 625-9203 / lizbeth.velez@undp.org) or Christian Sánchez (Christian.sanchez@unic.org) or Marlene Urscheler: (+41 79 752 04 85 / murscheler@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)  

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