Committee on Enforced Disappearances holds ninth session from 7 to 18 September 2015

Committee on Enforced Disappearances
BACKGROUND RELEASE

 3 September 2015

Committee to Consider Reports of Iraq and Montenegro

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances, responsible for reviewing how States implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, will hold its ninth session from 7 to 18 September 2015 in Room XII of the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

At the opening of the session on Monday, 7 September, 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 solemn declaration of the newly elected Members of the Committee.  The Committee will then hold a minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances and adopt the agenda.  

The Committee will consider the report of Iraq CED/C/IRQ/1 at 3 p.m. on Monday, 7 September and at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 September.  The report of Montenegro CED/C/MNE/1  will be considered at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 September and at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 9 September.

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 Burkina Faso, Kazakhstan and Tunisia, which will be considered in future sessions.

During the session, the Committee will also meet with States parties, 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 its methods of work.

Further information on the Committee and its ninth 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, 50 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Lithuania, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico,  Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands,  Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, 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), Santiago Corcuera Cabezut (Mexico), Emmanuel Decaux (France), Maria Clara Galvis Patino (Colombia),  Daniel Figallo Rivadeneyra (Peru), Luciano Hazan (Argentina), Rainer Huhle (Germany), Suela Janina (Albania), Juan José Lopez Ortega (Spain), and Kimio Yakushiji (Japan).


Provisional Timetable of Public Meetings


Monday, 7 September

10 a.m.         Opening of session, statement from a representative of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, statement by the Chairperson of the Committee, solemn declaration by the newly appointed Members, adoption of the agenda

3 p.m.           Consideration of the report of Iraq CED/C/IRQ/1

Tuesday, 8 September

10 a.m.         Iraq (continued)

3 p.m.           Consideration of the report of Montenegro CED/C/MNE/1

Wednesday, 9 September

10 a.m.         Montenegro (continued)

Thursday, 17 September

3 p.m.           Meeting with States parties
3:30 p.m.      Meeting with UN bodies, specialized agencies and
                    Intergovernmental Organizations

4 p.m.           Meeting with National Human Rights Institutions
4:30 p.m.      Meeting with non-governmental organizations and civil society


Friday, 18 September
 
3 p.m.           Presentation by the Rapporteur of the informal report of ninth session
4 p.m.           Presentation by the Rapporteur of the programme of work of the tenth session

5 p.m.           Statement by the Chairperson - Closure


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