The Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Committee responsible for reviewing how States implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, is holding its fifth session from 4 to 15 November at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

At the opening of the session on 4 November, the Committee met in public to hear a statement from a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, followed by an exchange of views, followed by the adoption of its agenda and a minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances. During this meeting the Committee also heared a statement by the Chairperson of the Committee, elect new officers and adopted its agenda. 

The Committee considered the report of Argentina (CED/C/ARG/1) on Monday 4 November and on Tuesday 5 November. The report of Spain (CED/C/ESP/1) was examined on Tuesday 5 November and on Wednesday 6 November 2013. 

In closed sessions the Committee will discuss matters related to its methods of work, hold its yearly meeting with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and a thematic discussion on ‘enforced disappearance and military justice’.  The Committee will also review communications, information and requests regarding alleged violations of the Convention. 

During the session, the Committee will also meet with States, relevant United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions, and non-governmental organizations.  The Committee will also discussed lists of issues regarding the reports of Germany and the Netherlands, which will be considered in future sessions. 

Further information on the Committee and its fifth session can be found here.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances is the monitory body which oversees the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force on 23 December 2010.  To date, 40 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Honduras, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Tunisia, Uruguay and Zambia.

The Convention states that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance. The Convention contains a universally agreed definition of enforced disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law”.

The main goals of the Convention are to hold States responsible for the protection of persons from enforced disappearances by defeating impunity, to prevent new cases of enforced disappearances and to guarantee the right to the truth and to obtain reparation of both the disappeared and their families.

The members of the Committee are Mohammed Al-Obaidi (Iraq), Mamadou Badio Camara (Senegal), Santiago Corcuera Cabezut (Mexico), Emmanuel Decaux (France), Alvaro Garcé Garcia y Santos (Uruguay), Luciano Hazan (Argentina), Rainer Huhle (Germany), Suela Janina (Albania), Juan José Lopez Ortega (Spain), Enoch Mulembe (Zambia), and Kimio Yakushiji (Japan).

The United Nations Office at Geneva