International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2016, Augusto 30.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, 30 August.
Día Internacional de las Víctimas de Desapariciones Forzadas, 30 de Augusto.
Международный день жертв насильственных исчезновений, 30 августа.

强迫失踪受害者国际日, 8月30日.

Journée internationale des victimes de disparition forcée, 30 août.

 اليوم العالمي لضحايا الاختفاء القسري، 30 أغسطس.

Every disappearance violates a range of human rights

Statements :

Statement of CED on Treaty Bodies Strengthening
Decision of CED on Addis Ababa guidelines



Forum : International Day of the Disappeared on August 30
Enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents. Of particular concern are:

• the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance;
• the use by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations;
• and the still widespread impunity for enforced disappearance

 
Every disappearance violates a range of human rights including:

• right to security and dignity of person
• right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• right to humane conditions of detention
• right to a legal personality
• right to a fair trial
• right to a family life
• right to life (if the disappeared person is killed or their fate is unknown).

 

Governments must:

• Investigate and prosecute those responsible in a fair trial.
• Legislate to make the International Convention national law.
• Implement the International Convention and accept the competency of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
• Live up to their obligations under international law.
• Make sure survivors and people who have lost their loved ones receive reparation – this includes compensation, rehabilitation, restitution and a guarantee that it won’t happen again.

 

 

A-Life-on-Hold : Adressing the needs of families of the missing

Events : Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance

United Nations Human Rights.

10th session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances 7-18 March 2016
11th session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances 3-14 October 2016

News :
- Enforced disappearances, Amnesty International
- Amnesty International urges governments across Southeast Asia to address the culture of impunity for crimes.
- Sierra Leone: Amnesty International Submission to the Committee on the rights of the child
- South Africa: Smoke and mirrors: Lonmin’s failure to address housing conditions at Marikana
- Saudi Arabia: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Haiti: Internal displacement, forced evictions, statelessness – the catalogue to violations continue

- El Salvador: “Hope for the victims” – UN experts welcome annulment of the Amnesty Law

,15 July 2016

- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights financial crisis, 3 June 2016

- Committee on Enforced Disappearances publishes findings on Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Kazakhstan, 21 March 2016

- Enforced disappearance, even if brief, still a crime, UN experts say in findings on Argentina case

21 March 2016

- Committee on Enforced Disappearances closes tenth session 18 March 2016

- Committee on Enforced Disappearances holds event to mark the tenth anniversary of the Convention, 11 March 2016

- Committee on Enforced Disappearances reviews report of Kazakhstan,10 March 2016

 

 

#StopDisappearances

Resources :

• Human Rights Portal
• Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
• International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,
• Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance
• Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2015, August 30th

Международный день жертв насильственных исчезновений, 30 августа.

 强迫失踪受害者国际日, 8月30日.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, 30 August.

 Día Internacional de las Víctimas de Desapariciones Forzadas, 30 de agosto.

Journée internationale des victimes de disparition forcée, 30 août.

 اليوم الدولي لضحايا الاختفاء القسري, 30 آب/أغسطس

 

Committee on Enforced Disappearances

United Nations Secretary-General's Message for the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2015, August 30th.

Victims of enforced disappearances are deprived of their liberty, kept in secret detention and seldom released. Often their fate remains unknown; they are frequently tortured and in constant fear of being killed. Even if they are eventually set free, the physical and psychological scars stay with them for the rest of their lives. The victims’ families and loved ones also suffer immense anguish.
Far from being a practice employed only in the past by military dictatorships, enforced disappearance continues to be used by some States. In the past year alone, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance -- the two United Nations mechanisms on enforced disappearance, composed of independent experts -- received 246 requests by family members across the world to take urgent action. This figure is just a fraction of the thousands of cases that are never reported either because of security conditions or because of a lack of knowledge of the existence of international mechanisms that can help.
In recent years there has also been an alarming number of acts by non-state actors, including armed extremist and terrorist groups, that are tantamount to enforced disappearances and that are also gross abuses of human rights.
The prohibition of enforced disappearance is absolute. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance affirms unequivocally that the use of enforced disappearance is illegal under any circumstances, including war, internal political instability or any other public emergency.
The Convention entered into force in 2010, has been signed by 93 States and ratified by 50, and provides a sound foundation for fighting impunity, protecting disappeared persons and their families and strengthening the guarantees provided by the rule of law -- including investigation, prosecution, justice and reparation.
On this international day, I urge all Member States to ratify or accede to the Convention without delay, and I call on the States parties to the Convention to implement it. It is time for an end to all enforced disappearances.

Ban Ki-moon

Amid Growing Use of Enforced Disappearances by Non-State Actors, Secretary-General Urges Prompt Action in Message on International Day Commemorating Victims.


 “Time is of the essence” – UN experts call for global rules for the immediate search of the disappeared International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances - Sunday 30 August 2015

GENEVA (28 August 2015) –Two United Nations expert groups on enforced disappearances call on States to establish and activate protocols for the immediate search of disappeared persons across the world.

Speaking ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, on Sunday 30 August, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances urge Governments to activate all means of search of disappeared persons in a systematic way, including through the establishment of protocols.

“Over the last year, we have been working on 246 recent cases of enforced disappearances perpetrated all over the world - a clear indication that this heinous practice is still used in a number of countries. These cases are nevertheless only the tip of the iceberg of thousands of cases which are never reported either because of fear of reprisals or because the security conditions do not allow doing so.

The lack of resources and the insufficient awareness of existing international mechanisms are other reasons why many cases of enforced disappearances are never reported to the United Nations.

Following the activation of the urgent actions procedures by the Working Group and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances over the last year, 13 disappeared persons were found alive, in detention, and sadly two were found dead.

These procedures can make a difference for the relatives in despair:

‘I would like to inform you that due to your constant intervention and monitoring of the situation, XX was released by his abductors. Words cannot express how grateful we are to the Working Group and I request you to personally convey my indebtedness to every member of the group.’

‘Thanks for reading my messages and for taking them into account. I finally have the impression that someone is listening to me and paying attention to the case of my son,’ wrote the mother of a disappeared person.

‘I would like to inform you hereby that because of the impact of strong support and concern shown by your office, xx and xx were safely released.’

‘The letter of the Committee was received two weeks ago. A few days later, [the authorities] came to visit us to inform about the investigation and invited us to take part to it. It is the first time after so many months that we have the impression that things are moving again,’ wrote jointly the mothers of two disappeared persons.

The experience and use of the tool of urgent actions by the Committee and the Working Group show that in the case of enforced disappearance time is of the essence. The hours and days that follow a disappearance are crucial to find the disappeared person alive. The actions taken in the immediate aftermath of a disappearance cannot be left to hazards but have to be systematized in protocols that permit the immediate activation of all means at disposal for the search of the disappeared.

These protocols for the search of the disappeared need to be established in all States - irrespective of the number of enforced disappearances - and have to presume, at least initially, that the disappeared person must be searched alive.

We call upon governments to take action as soon as a case of disappearance is reported to the authorities and all necessary measures to seek and find the disappeared person and to avoid irreparable harm.

We equally urge governments to guarantee the full protection from all forms of reprisals of those who report cases of enforces disappearances, the authors of the urgent actions requests, the witnesses, the relatives of the disappeared persons, their defence counsels, and all persons taking part in the related investigations.

We also encourage all those whose beloved ones have disappeared, as well as those acting on their behalf, to make use of the tool provided by the urgent action procedures* of the Working Group and of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances.”

FORUM :  International Day of the Disappeared on August 30

más de 22 mil personas en México

 

Amnistía Internacional :  La desaparición de más de 22 mil personas en México, las ejecuciones extrajudiciales en Tlatlaya, los feminicidos en Chihuahua y las decenas de miles de secuestros de personas migrantes en su paso por el país reflejan el grave contexto de violaciones a los derechos humanos en México que ha habitado durante décadas bajo una larga sombra de impunidad. 

Es momento de poner fin al sufrimiento de las familias por la desaparición de uno o más de sus integrantes, que nuestros familiares desaparezcan #NoEsNormal. 

Firma la petición y ayúdanos a evitar que estos atroces crímenes se olviden y queden impunes.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2014, 30 August.

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, 30 August.

 Día Internacional de las Víctimas de Desapariciones Forzadas, 30 de agosto.

Международный день жертв насильственных исчезновений, 30 августа.

 强迫失踪受害者国际日, 8月30日.

Journée internationale des victimes de disparition forcée, 30 août.

  اليوم الدولي لضحايا الاختفاء القسري , 30 آب/أغسطس

Disappeared Persons V. Missing Persons

United Nations Secretary-General's Message for the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2014.

The enforced disappearance of individuals by States constitutes an unacceptable violation of human rights. Acts tantamount to enforced disappearance of individuals by armed and terrorist groups also constitutes a gross abuse of human rights. This abhorrent practice places people outside the protection of the law, and thus potentially in great danger of physical violence and sometimes barbaric execution. In addition to causing unimaginable worry and anguish for the victims and their loved ones, this creates a generalized climate of fear and terror across entire societies.

Enforced disappearance was once employed mainly by military dictatorships. Increasingly it has become a tool of many States around the world -- some operating under counter-terror strategies, or fighting organized crime, and others seeking to quash dissent and human rights activism.

On this solemn day, I reiterate in the strongest possible terms that under international law, no one should be kept in secret detention. Any person deprived of his or her liberty must be held safely in officially recognized and supervised locations that observe the rule of law. States should provide full information about the whereabouts of persons who have been disappeared. And they must effectively implement the right to the truth, justice and reparation for all victims and their families. Enforced disappearance is a practice that cannot be tolerated in the 21st Century.

To date, the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force in December 2010, has been signed by 93 States and ratified by 43. It provides a sound foundation for fighting impunity, protecting disappeared persons and their families and strengthening the guarantees provided by the rule of law -- including investigation, justice and redress.

I urge all Member States to sign and ratify the Convention without delay. It is time for the universal ratification of the Convention and a final end to all enforced disappearances.

Ban Ki-moon

Enforced ot Involuntary Disappearances

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances Saturday 30 August 2014. Remove all obstacles to aid search for the disappeared, UN experts urge governments 

GENEVA (30 August 2014) –Two United Nations expert groups on enforced disappearances call on States “to remove all obstacles” to aid investigations into the fate of disappeared persons. On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances urge Governments to support relatives of the disappeared by removing all obstacles hindering their search for loved ones, including through the opening of all archives, especially military files.

 “More than 43,000 cases, the majority dating back decades, remain outstanding with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. These cases stay open for several reasons, often because relatives have no support in finding out what happened.

The search for disappeared family members and, in many cases, the identification of discovered remains, is always the most pressing request of relatives who endure tremendous suffering in their long wait to know the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones.

 Many relatives face unjustified hurdles in their search, due to the lack of political will, or insufficient and inadequate investigations.

The recent reunion of Estela de Carlotto, president of the Argentine human rights organisation Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, with her grandson after a 36-year search shows that with good will, cooperation and commitment, a positive outcome is possible, even many years after a disappearance occurs.

 Transparency and information-sharing is a good demonstration of political will, so we call on States to immediately open all archives, including military files, as these sometimes contain information relating to the whereabouts of disappeared persons.

 States should ensure that relatives, their representatives and all persons with a legitimate interest in finding out what happened have full and prompt access to national, regional and international mechanisms aimed at establishing the truth on the disappearances. This does not just mean removing obstacles to accessing these mechanisms, but actively promoting and facilitating their use.

 It is also essential to expand the use of forensic expertise and DNA testing and make adequate use of all the available technological and scientific techniques.

 The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance is clear: families and friends of a disappeared person are themselves victims and they have the right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of the enforced disappearance, the progress and results of the investigation, and ultimately the fate of the disappeared person.

 For this reason, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances encourages Governments, whenever appropriate, to set up ad hoc bodies and specialized units to investigate cases of enforced disappearance and to create national DNA banks to hold genetic samples of all cases reported.

 The time for promises has passed. Now it is the time to act. States must urgently address the anguish of the relatives of the disappeared and reinvigorate their investigations into cases of disappearances. We owe it to the disappeared and to their families and friends who wake up every day, hoping to know the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.” ENDS

 Resources :

 For more information, log on to:
 Working Group on Disappearance,
Committee on Enforced Disappearances,
 Read the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,
 Timetable of reports due under article 29.1 of the International Convention for the protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
 

External links

 

Treaty Body Webcast
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
International Federation for Human Rights
International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances
TRIAL
World Organisation Against Torture

 FORUM AND DISCUSSIONS :

Forum : International Day of the Disappeared on August 30

  Information and media requests :
  For more information and media requests, please contact:
 Ugo Cedrangolo (+41 22 917 9286 / ucedrangolo@ohchr.org)
or write to wgeid@ohchr.org Maria Giovanna Bianchi (+41 22 917 9189 / mgbianchi@ohchr.org)
or write to ced@ohchr.org