The Committee on Enforced Disappearances this morning held a meeting with States parties, followed by a meeting with non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and intergovernmental organizations.
Olivier de Frouville, Committee Chair, in opening remarks, presented activities conducted by the Committee during its current session. He announced that a documentary on persons affected by international illegal adoptions would be screened tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva, followed by a debate on the issue, and that the World Congress on Enforced Disappearance would take place on 15 and 16 January 2025 in Geneva. He encouraged interested parties to participate in both events.
Milica Kolakovic-Bojovic, Committee Vice-Chair, also took the floor to discuss the Committee's efforts to disseminate and promote the implementation of the Committee's first general comment on enforced disappearance in the context of migration, while Committee Rapporteur Juan Pablo Alban Alencastro and Expert Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana took the floor to explain the Committee's follow-up procedure.
In the meeting with States parties, discussions addressed efforts to promote the implementation and universalisation of the Convention and the location of missing persons. More countries needed to ratify the Convention to eradicate the scourge of enforced disappearance, one speaker said. Some speakers welcomed the convening of the World Congress on Enforced Disappearance, which would be an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of the Convention.
Colombia, Azerbaijan, Argentina and Iraq took the floor in the meeting with States parties.
In the meeting with non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and intergovernmental organizations, discussions addressed efforts being made to combat enforced disappearances in various States, identify victims, and seek justice for victims and their families. Speakers also addressed the issues of illegal intercountry adoptions, enforced disappearances of environmental activists, and enforced disappearances in the context of migration.
Several civil society organizations from Mauritania, Iraq, Morocco, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Palestine spoke in the meeting with civil society representatives.
Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee's twenty-seventh session and other documents related to the session can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public on Friday, 4 October at 5 p.m. to close its twenty-seventh session.
Meeting with States Parties
Opening Statements
OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE, Committee Chair, said that in the current session, the Committee had examined the reports of Ukraine, Morocco and Norway, and adopted lists of issues in the absence of reports for Seychelles and Lesotho, and lists of priority themes for Belgium and Serbia.
The Committee planned to conduct an official visit to Colombia in November 2024. A call for contributions related to the visit had been posted on the Committee's website. Two visits had also been requested to Burkina Faso and Honduras; discussions with the States concerned were ongoing.
To date, the Committee had registered 1,896 urgent actions, which were humanitarian procedures that sought to locate individuals who had disappeared. Of these, 1,104 were currently active cases. Some had been grouped together, but each gave rise to individual monitoring. The majority of urgent actions concerned Mexico (690) and Iraq (603). Since the beginning of the procedure in 2012, 512 urgent actions had been closed following the location of the disappeared person, including 15 since the last session. The Committee was pleased to report that, of the 512 people located since the beginning of the implementation of the procedure, 408 had been found alive. The Committee would adopt its periodic report on trends in cases of registered urgent actions, which would be made available on the Committee's website.
The Committee was striving to integrate itself within the treaty body system. It supported the predictable reporting system and the digital uplift of the treaty body system. The urgent action process did not have sufficient funding in light of the scale of cases before the Committee. The Committee had proposed a junior professional officer post to support its work in processing urgent actions, and it called for support from States parties in filling this post.
This session, the Committee had begun discussions on the theme of women and enforced disappearance, considering women both as victims of enforced disappearance and as members of families in which enforced disappearances had occurred, and their role in fighting against the phenomenon. It was currently considering the format for presenting its position on the issue.
The Committee had continued to work with the Working Group on Enforced Disappearance, ensuring the complementarity of the two bodies' actions. Along with the Human Rights Committee, they were currently working on a draft joint declaration on so-called "short-term enforced disappearances". The Committee had continued to work in coordination with other treaty bodies and human rights mechanisms and entities. During this session, it met with the Commissioner of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, who was the Chairperson of the Commission's Working Group on the Death Penalty, Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings, and Enforced Disappearances in Africa.
In 2022, the Committee adopted a joint declaration on international illegal adoptions with the Committee on the Rights of the Child and several Special Procedures mandate holders, and last year, a conference was held to announce the joint declaration. A documentary on the conference's participants who had been affected by international illegal adoptions would be screened tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Maison de la Paix in Geneva. The screening would be followed by a debate on the issue.
Mr. de Frouville said that the World Congress on Enforced Disappearance would take place on 15 and 16 January 2025 in Geneva in the Geneva International Conference Centre. The Committee thanked the States sponsoring the Congress; the hosts Switzerland and the canton of Geneva; and all civil society organizations that had worked to promote the Congress and the participation of over 100 representatives of associations of family members of victims of enforced disappearance. The Congress would share best practices and encourage States to make pledges to combat enforced disappearance and to implement of the Convention. The programme and plan of action of the Congress would be published on 15 October.
The Congress would feature plenary meetings, roundtables and workshops, which would focus on linking young activists, combatting impunity, and supporting victims of enforced disappearance, including children. The plan of action, which would not be negotiated at the Conference, would include a list of steps that States could take to implement the Convention and would encourage joint actions. Commitments and pledges by States at the Congress would be made public.
MILICA KOLAKOVIC-BOJOVIC, Committee Vice-Chair, said the Committee had adopted its first general comment on enforced disappearance in the context of migration. The Committee had considered how to disseminate the content of the general comment, promote its implementation and use it to promote the ratification of the Convention. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' regional office in Panama had prepared an illustrated version of the general comment in Spanish. The International Commission on Missing Persons had decided to incorporate the general comment into its mandate.
On 15 and 16 January, the Committee would hold the World Congress on Enforced Disappearance, and one of the meetings at the Congress would address the topic of enforced disappearance in the context of migration. The Committee was issuing recommendations to States parties regarding the implementation of the general comment. The Committee had established cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which had produced a report on missing migrants and asylum seekers. The Council would tomorrow adopt a resolution based in the report that called on all States parties to the Council to ratify the Convention and officially cooperate with the Committee.
JUAN PABLO ALBAN ALENCASTRO, Committee Rapporteur, said that the Committee formulated concluding observations based on dialogues with States parties and requested States parties to report on the implementation of these observations within four or eight years, depending on their content. Country rapporteurs examined the follow-up information provided by States and recommended to the Committee plenary whether additional information should be requested on up to four themes.
If they decided that additional information was required, the Committee sent a request for this information and convened a follow-up dialogue with the State party for three or six hours as required. However, if they determined that there was no need to request additional information, the follow-up procedure was suspended until information arose related to enforced disappearance in the State party that required the Committee's attention. When such information came to light, the Committee re-commenced the reporting procedure, starting by preparing an additional list of issues.
CARMEN ROSA VILLA QUINTANA, Committee Expert, said it was vital that civil society provided information to counter what was submitted by States. The Committee's concluding observations stressed the importance of States implementing their obligations under the Convention. The Committee had convened 12 rich follow-up dialogues with States. She expressed hope that States continued to cooperate with the follow-up dialogue process.
Remarks
by States Parties
In the discussion, several speakers presented efforts to promote the implementation and universalisation of the Convention and the location of missing persons. More countries needed to ratify the Convention to eradicate the scourge of enforced disappearance. The fate of missing persons remained all too often ignored and greater efforts were needed from States. Some speakers welcomed the convening of the World Congress on Enforced Disappearance, which would be an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of this issue. One speaker presented efforts to hold political consultations on the issue with other States bilaterally and in the Human Rights Council.
One speaker said that there were more than 100,000 persons who had disappeared in the conflict in Colombia. A search unit had been created to find these people and ensure justice for victims and their families. In its upcoming visit to Colombia, the Committee would see first-hand the work of this unit, which was working to locate the families of the disappeared, hand over the remains of located persons, and gather DNA and other information on missing persons. The Committee's visit was significant and would help in these efforts.
Another speaker said that an international conference on locating the victims of enforced disappearance would be held on 2 and 3 October in Azerbaijan. The speaker said the consequences of the decades-long conflict with Armenia were still being felt in Azerbaijan today. Azerbaijan continued to provide information on missing persons to the Committee. Cooperation was needed from Armenia to locate all missing persons.
One speaker welcomed the recent accession of a new State to the Convention. The speaker emphasised the importance of submitting reports to the Committee in a timely matter. The speaker said that Iraq's second report on additional information had been completed and, after ratification, would be handed over to the Committee as soon as possible.
Meeting with National Human Rights Institutions, Non-Governmental and Intergovernmental Organizations
Introductory Remarks
OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE, Committee Chair, regretted that, following a decision taken by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for financial reasons, online interventions by civil society organizations were no longer possible in meetings with treaty bodies. He encouraged the organizations concerned to participate in person in the work of the Committee.
The Chairperson of the Committee reiterated to representatives of civil society that the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances would be held in January at a time when the issue of enforced disappearance was no longer the subject of as much attention as it was in the early 2000s, even though this global problem remained a burning issue.
Committee Experts gave the same explanations to the civil society organizations present as those previously given [see above] to States regarding the Committee's activities.
Statements and Questions by National Human Rights Institutions, Non-Governmental and Intergovernmental Organizations
In the discussion, speakers asked the Committee about efforts being made to investigate and combat enforced disappearances in Spain, Gaza and Mexico and seek justice for the families of victims of enforced disappearance. What was the Committee doing to tackle the lack of will from certain States parties to implement the Convention? One speaker said there had been inaction by Mauritania in supporting victims of enforced disappearance in their quest for truth after the State party's dialogue with the Committee. What follow-up actions were being pursued?
A speaker expressed pleasure that Morocco had recorded no cases of enforced disappearance since having ratified the Convention, evidence of the positive effects of the Committee's work, including its visit to Morocco. How was the Committee working to promote awareness of the Convention in non-signatory States?
Another speaker welcomed the work done by the Committee to combat enforced disappearance in Iraq. There was a policy of non-compliance with civil society organizations and international obligations in Iraq. Lawyers had been sued by the Bar Association for speaking out against a proposed law that would restrict freedom of speech. The Government was denying its responsibilities to the families of victims of enforced disappearance. What could the Committee do to ensure the implementation of the Convention in Iraq and conduct a follow-up dialogue with the State party?
One speaker shared their story of having been illegally adopted in Chile. He said that his mother had been told that he had died in childbirth, but he had in fact been sold for adoption overseas. Between 50,000 and 70,000 children had met this fate in Chile, where there was a vast trafficking network made up of private and State actors. In Chile, there had been no reconciliation between the offending parties and the victims and no convictions of offending parties. Illegal adoptions continued to cause harm and suffering every day. The voices of disappeared children were not supplementary to investigations into the phenomenon; they were essential for it. Intercountry coordination was essential to tackle the problem. Survivors of enforced disappearance needed to be added to the Committee. Survivors had hope and trust in the work of the Committee and called on it to do more.
A speaker said enforced disappearance was not being adequately documented globally. What methods was the Committee using to identify victims of enforced disappearance? The speaker said there was a worrying trend in the disappearance of environmental activists. How was the Committee addressing this?
One speaker asked if a discussion would be held on identifying cases of enforced disappearance in the context of migration and trafficking in persons at the World Congress.
Responses by the Committee
OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE, Committee Chair, said the Committee highly valued contributions from civil society organizations and family organizations. Procedures were available for making such contributions related to various aspects of the Committee's work. When the Committee was not able to intervene regarding a certain situation, it worked in close cooperation with regional and local bodies to address the situation.
The Committee was continuing to monitor the issue of illegal intercountry adoptions along with the other treaty bodies and Special Procedures that had adopted the joint declaration on the issue. It would continue to address the issue through all mechanisms available to it.
