Committee on Enforced Disappearances closes nineteenth session

Mohammed Ayat, Chairperson of the Committee, said the Committee had met on 22 occasions during the session, which started on 7 September. The Committee had adopted lists of issues for the Czech Republic, Greece and Niger, as well as a list of issues in the absence of a report for Mali. It had also adopted reports on follow-up to concluding observations by analysing the follow-up reports of eight States parties, as well as its report on urgent action, which dealt with trends and the main decisions taken with regard to the 969 urgent actions registered as of the date of presentation of the report.

The Committee had held an interactive dialogue with Iraq on the basis of additional information presented by the State party, and adopted concluding observations. It had decided to proceed with the examination of the report of Iraq despite the significant limitations due to the pandemic. The dialogue with Iraq had focused on three central questions, in accordance with the new methodology for the examination of additional information reports, which the Committee was currently implementing. The Committee had therefore been able to carry out the dialogue in four hours, compared with the usual six hours normally required for the review of initial reports.

Mr. Ayat emphasised, however, that such a working method must remain an exceptional and temporary measure to allow the Committee to continue its mandate despite the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that this was the first time that a treaty body had held an interactive dialogue with a State party online. Mr. Ayat said that during the session, the Committee had also met with key partners, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Working Group on Involuntary and Enforced Disappearances.

Documents relating to the session, including the schedule of public meetings, can be found here.

The twentieth session of the Committee is scheduled to take place from 12 to 23 April 2021.

CED20.003E