UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances publishes findings on Cambodia, Burkina Faso and Honduras

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) today issued its findings on Cambodia, Burkina Faso, and Honduras after reviewing the three States parties during its latest session.

The findings contain the Committee’s main concerns and recommendations on the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, as well as positive aspects. Key highlights include:

Cambodia
The Committee raised its concern about the country’s insufficient legal framework to ensure an immediate probe into any alleged enforced disappearance, the lack of information on the measures to search for and identify disappeared people, and the alleged failure of authorities in the region to look into cross-border disappearance cases. The Committee called on Cambodia to investigate all alleged enforced disappearances promptly and effectively, even in the absence of a formal complaint, prosecute the alleged perpetrators, and, if found guilty, punish them with appropriate penalties. It also asked the State party to ensure that those disappeared are searched for, that their relatives can participate in the search and investigation, and that, if they are dead, their remains are identified and returned to their families.

Regarding alleged illegal intercountry adoptions that occurred since 2000, that were mainly linked to corruption and trafficking, the Committee expressed concern about the lack of legal procedures to review and annul any adoption that resulted from enforced disappearance and on the measures to restore a child’s identity. It urged Cambodia to establish specific procedures for reviewing and annulling such illegal adoptions and for restoring the true identity of the adopted children. It also asked Cambodia to investigate and prosecute those involved in illegal adoptions that may constitute enforced disappearance.

Burkina Faso
The Committee expressed concerns about the decree regarding general mobilization and warning that is likely to constitute enforced disappearances, and numerous recent allegations of enforced disappearance targeting human rights defenders, journalists, political opponents, and Peul Ethnic group members. It highlighted that no exceptional circumstances can be used to justify enforced disappearance, including when implementing anti-terrorism measures.

The Committee received information on the existence of several mass graves. It was concerned about the lack of information on the efforts to ensure the identification and restitution of the remains of the disappeared and its access by all victims. The Committee called upon the State party to ensure that each identified mass grave is preserved and examined using forensic methods. It also urged Burkina Faso to follow the Guiding Principles on the Search for Disappeared Persons to develop and implement search strategies.

Honduras
The Committee voiced its concern about the high level of impunity in cases of enforced disappearances. It also expressed concern that families of disappeared migrants in Honduras still have to lead the search and identification efforts, with difficulties throughout the processes, such as obtaining humanitarian visas. It urged Honduras to cooperate with countries of origin and destination, and engage victims and civil society, to search for disappeared migrants immediately and, if their remains are found, to proceed with their identification and restitution in dignified manners. It also asked Honduras to issue humanitarian visas, ensure effective coordination between the institutions in charge of the search and investigation, and strengthen judicial assistance with other States in the region.

Concerning the absence of a single register of disappeared persons, the Committee called on Honduras to establish a consolidated register to record cases within the country and of Hondurans who have disappeared abroad, with up-to-date and disaggregated statistical information. The Committee underscored that the collected information should include the date, context and circumstances of the disappearance, the number of disappeared persons who have been located, alive or deceased, and the number of cases with State involvement.

During the session, the Committee also adopted its report on the urgent action mechanism, highlighting trends in cases registered since the last session and sharing lessons learned after 12 years of implementation.

The above country review findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, as well as the report on Urgent Actions, and other documents, are available on the session webpage.