Committee on Enforced Disappearances holds twelfth session in Geneva from 6 to 17 March 2017

BACKGROUND RELEASE

Committee to Consider Reports of Cuba, Senegal and Ecuador

GENEVA (2 March 2017) - The Committee on Enforced Disappearances will review how Cuba, Senegal and Ecuador implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance during its twelfth session from 6 to 17 March at the Palais Wilson in Geneva.

At the opening of the session on Monday, 6 March, 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, adopt its agenda and programme of work, and hold a minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances. In a closed meeting, the Committee will hear briefings on the States under review by United Nations organizations, specialized agencies and mechanisms, human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.

The report of Cuba (CED/C/CUB/1) will be considered by the Committee on the afternoon of 6 March and the morning of 7 March; the report of Senegal (CED/C/SEN/1) on the afternoon of 7 March and the morning of 8 March; and the report of Ecuador (CED/C/ECU/1) on the afternoon of 8 March and the morning of 9 March. Following the consideration of those country reports, the Committee will adopt its the concluding observations and recommendations with regard to the implementation of the Convention, which will be published at the end of the session.

On Thursday, 9 March in the afternoon, the Committee will hold separate public meetings with Member States; with United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations; with national human rights institutions; and with non-governmental organizations and civil society.

In private meetings, the Committee will consider individual communications and requests for urgent actions received by the Committee, discuss matters related to its methods of work, adopt lists of issues prior to reporting with respect to Lithuania and Gabon, and adopt the annual report of the Committee to the seventy-second session of the General Assembly.

Detailed meeting coverage can be found in English and French on the United Nations Information Service’s webpage and further information, including copies of the States parties’ reports, all related documentation and the programme of work, are available on the session’s webpage.

The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings will be available via the following link: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/.

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, 56 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Lithuania, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland,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: Mr. Mohammed Al-Obaidi (Iraq), Mr. Santiago Corcuera Cabezut (Mexico), Mr. Emmanuel Decaux (France), Ms. Maria Clara Galvis Patino (Colombia), Mr. Daniel Figallo Rivadeneyra (Peru), Mr. Luciano Hazan (Argentina), Mr. Rainer Huhle (Germany), Ms. Suela Janina (Albania), Mr. Juan José Lopez Ortega (Spain), and Mr. Kimio Yakushiji (Japan).

Programme of Work

Monday, 6 March
10 a.m. Opening of the session, adoption of the agenda and consideration of the programme of work,
Minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances
10.30 a.m. Closed meeting
3. p.m. Report of Cuba (CED/C/CUB/1)

Tuesday, 7 March
10 a.m. Cuba (continued)
3 p.m. Report of Senegal (CED/C/SEN/1)

Wednesday, 8 March
10 a.m. Senegal (continued)
3 p.m. Report of Ecuador (CED/C/ECU/1)

Thursday, 9 March
10 a.m. Ecuador (continued)
3 p.m. Meeting with Member States
Meeting with United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and Intergovernmental Organizations
Meeting with national human rights institutions
Meeting with non-governmental organizations and civil society
5 p.m. Closed meeting

Friday, 10 March
Closed meetings

Monday, 13 March
Closed meetings

Tuesday, 14 March
Closed meetings

Wednesday, 15 March
Closed meetings

Thursday, 16 March
Closed meetings

Friday, 17 March
10 a.m. Closed meeting
3 p.m. Public closing of the session

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For use of the information media; not an official record