The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances concluded its 82nd session

29 June 2007


The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued the following statement today:

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances today concluded its 82nd session from 25 to 29 June 2007 at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

The Working Group examined 27 newly reported cases under its urgent action procedure. The members of the Working Group expressed deep concern that the majority of new urgent action cases are regarding alleged disappearances in Sri Lanka.
On 16 October 2006, the Working Group requested a visit to Sri Lanka. The Working Group looks forward to the Government providing the dates for this visit as soon as possible.

At this session, the Working Group also examined 200 cases from 29 countries, including Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gambia, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kuwait, Libya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. In relation to these cases, the Working Group reviewed replies from governments, relatives of the disappeared and NGOs.

The Working Group’s annual examination of country practices affecting enforced disappearances (general allegations) submitted by non-governmental organizations regarding countries resulted in the decision to transmit nine general allegations to governments in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and North America. The allegations touched on issues including impunity of perpetrators of disappearances; failure to launch investigations or to ensure that they are effective; harassment of relatives of the disappeared and NGOs; and clandestine detention.

Meetings were held with delegations from Iraq, Japan and Mexico to exchange views on individual cases under consideration and on the phenomenon of enforced disappearances.

The Working Group was created by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. The Working Group 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 fate or 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 is clearly established. The Working Group continues to address cases of disappearances until they are resolved.

The Working Group is made up of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chairman-Rapporteur is Santiago Corcuera, and the other Expert-Members are J. Bayo Adekanye, Darko Gottlicher, Saied Rajaie Khorasani and Stephen J. Toope.

For more information on the Working Group, please refer to the web site: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/disappear/index.htm