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..Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 2
June 2005
Press Release No: G/12/2005
UN WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY
DISAPPEARANCES EXAMINES CASES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ASIA
Bangkok (UN Information Services) -- 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: wgeid@ohchr.org
www.ohchr.org/english/issues/disappear/
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