Bangkok--Jun 3--UNISBKK
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is holding its seventy-fifth session from 26 May to 3 June, in Bangkok, Thailand to look at cases of disappearances from around the world.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances ("WGEID") is meeting for the first time in Asia, at the regional United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific office. Previous sessions have been held in Geneva, New York and Latin America. At its seventy-fifth session, the Working Group has looked at more than 1,000 cases from 28 countries from all regions of the world, including Algeria, Belarus, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Iran, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Libya,Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan,Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen. The Working Group has held meetings with concerned non-governmental organizations ("NGOs") and Governments. Further, it participated in a training and interactive dialogue with NGOs from across the region organized by the NGO, "Forum Asia".
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances decided to hold the seventy-fifth session in the region of Asia, where an increasing number
of cases of enforced disappearance have recently been submitted to it. In
addition to reviewing cases, the Working Group discussed substantive
questions of concern, including consideration of issues associated with laws on amnesties and impunity for the act of enforced disappearance, as well as a worldwide study it is conducting on laws and their implementation in relation to enforced disappearance. The Working Group considered developments in Nepal, where it held a recent mission, in December 2004, and discussed its up-coming visit to Colombia, scheduled for July 2005.
Other possible future missions were reviewed.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was created by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1980, as the first
universal thematic procedure on human rights. The WGEID was established to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of their relatives
who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. The
WGEID 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 whereabouts of
disappeared persons. In view of its humanitarian mandate, clarification
occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person is clearly
established. The WGEID continues working on cases of disappearance until
such time as they are clarified. It currently has more than 40,000 cases
actively under review, from sixty countries. The WGEID is made up of five
independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chairman-Rapporteur
is Stephen J. Toope, the Vice-Chairman is J. Bayo Adekanye, and the other
Expert-Members are Darko Gottlicher, Saied Rajaie Khorasani and Santiago
Corcuera.
As defined in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance ("Declaration"), adopted by the
General Assembly in 1992, enforced disappearances occur when persons are
deprived of their liberty by state officials or by persons acting on behalf
of, or with the support, consent or acquiescence of the Government,
followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons
concerned, which places such persons outside the protection of the law.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is mandated by
the UN Commission on Human Rights to assist in the implementation of the
Declaration and relevant international rules.
The Working Group is grateful for the kind hospitality of the Government of Thailand, as the host country for the UN regional office for the United
Nations Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific, and to the
Regional Representative for Asia-Pacific of the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and her staff, for their support in the
holding of the seventy-fifth session of the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances.
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
www.ohchr.org/english/issues/disappear/ End.