Committee on Enforced Disappearances closes tenth session

ROUNDUP
 
GENEVA (18 March 2013) - The Committee on Enforced Disappearances closed its tenth session today after hearing statements by Juan Jose Lopez Ortega, Committee Rapporteur, and Emmanuel Decaux, Committee Chairperson.  
 
Juan Jose Lopez Ortega, Committee Rapporteur, presenting the report of the tenth session, said that the Committee had examined the first individual communication, the content of which would be made public in the coming weeks.  An event had been held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of France, Japan, Argentina and Morocco.  The Committee was continuing to communicate with Mexico, with the view of visiting the State party in the first months of 2017.
 
Emmanuel Decaux, Committee Chairperson, in closing remarks, stated that the tenth anniversary of the Convention would also be marked at the General Assembly in the autumn, which should further contribute to the dynamics of the treaty ratification.  The increasing number of requests for urgent action, particularly related to Mexico and Iraq, demonstrated that there was an growing demand for the rapid application of that mechanism on the ground.  He stressed that the Convention on Enforced Disappearances was now given its due place in the system of international human rights instruments.
 
The adopted concluding observations on the three State parties considered in the tenth session – Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Kazakhstan – would be published on the website of the session in the coming days.
 
The Committee’s eleventh session will take place in Geneva from 3 to 14 October 2016, when the Committee will consider reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Colombia.  
 
Statements
 
JUAN JOSE LOPEZ ORTEGA, Committee Rapporteur, presented the report of the tenth session.  So far, 51 States had ratified the Convention, and 95 States were signatories.  The last country to have signed the Convention was Italy.  This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Convention, which had entered into force in September 2010.  The Committee had been created the following year. 
 
Mr. Lopez Ortega reminded that the tenth session had been opened by Simon Walker, Chief of Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who stressed that the Convention had, for the first time, developed the international human rights law to ensure that enforced disappearances constituted an offence under domestic law and a crime against humanity.  The Convention provided a number of tools, which included a mechanism for urgent action, a possibility to submit individual communications, and a possibility for the Committee to pay onsite visits to some States parties.  The Committee had adopted the San Jose Principles against retaliation against human rights defenders. 
 
The Committee had received more than 300 requests for urgent action, the majority of which had been accepted, said Mr. Lopez Ortega.  The Committee had asked States parties to take steps to bring to a conclusion cases of disappeared persons.  The Committee had also examined the first individual communication, the content of which would be made public in the coming weeks.  The decision had been communicated to the person who had submitted it and to the State party.  The Committee had also considered its methodology and the drafting of general observations and lists of questions to be submitted to States parties to be considered at the following session – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Colombia.  A working group had been set up to look into the rules of procedure.  During the tenth session, the Committee had considered the reports of Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Kazakhstan; concluding observations on the three State parties had been adopted and would be published on the website of the session soon.  A number of States parties were overdue with submitting their reports, the Committee had noted. 
 
An event had been held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of France, Japan, Argentina and Morocco.  The event included two panel discussions, one on innovations with regard to the Convention-related instruments, and another on challenges regarding victim protection.  Tribute had been paid to the victims of enforced disappearances, especially the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Mr. Lopez Ortega stated that the Committee had also approved its report to the General Assembly.  The key topic was retaliations, while organizing visits to States parties had also been addressed.  The Committee was continuing to communicate with Mexico, and a proposal was in place to visit Mexico in the first months of 2017.  Reply of the State party was being currently awaited. 
 
EMMANUEL DECAUX, Chairperson of the Committee, said that the tenth session had been busy and productive.  An exceptional event had been held to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention.  It was hoped that the marking of the tenth anniversary of the Convention, which would also be held at the General Assembly in the autumn, would further contribute to the dynamics of the treaty ratification. 
 
A large part of the session had been dedicated to putting into force of article 29 of the Convention, in addition to the consideration of three reports of States parties.  Mr. Decaux informed that he Committee had studied 18 national reports over the previous three years.  Criminalization of enforced disappearance as a separate offence lay at the core of the Convention, of which States parties were regularly reminded.  The Committee had emphasized good practices, especially when it came to the recommendations issued to States parties.  For example, States parties were advised not to apply a statute of limitations when it came to the crime of enforced disappearance.  During the session, article 31 had been put into practice, which had led to the adoption of the first opinion of the Committee on an individual communication submitted in September 2013.  That had set a precedent, stressed Mr. Decaux.  The increasing number of requests for urgent action, particularly related to Mexico and Iraq, demonstrated that there was a growing demand for the rapid application of that mechanism on the ground.
 
Mr. Decaux stated that, as part of the preparations for the twenty-eighth meeting of the chairpersons of the treaty bodies, he and Fabian Omar Salvioli, Human Rights Committee Chairperson, had met with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst.  Another important item on the meeting agenda of the chairpersons, which would take place in New York in June, would be the implementation of the General Assembly resolution 68/268.  The Committee had taken all the necessary steps to fully implement the resolution.  Mr. Decaux said that he would remind the United Nations Secretariat of the need to provide the Committee with human and material resources necessary for its effective work.  
 
The Convention on Enforced Disappearances now had its due place in the system of human rights instruments.  It was critical to ensure that the dialogue with stakeholders – States and non-governmental organizations – would continue.  With 51 States parties, the Committee was now at the same stage where the United Nations had been at the time of its creation in 1945.  Universality of the ratification was something the Committee would continue to pursue, concluded Mr. Decaux.

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