Committee on Enforced Disappearances Opens Twenty-Eighth Session

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances this morning opened its twenty-eighth session, during which it will examine the reports of the Central African Republic, the Gambia and Malta on their implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The Committee will also review follow-up and addition information provided by Panama, Serbia and Belgium, as well as by Peru and Argentina, for the latter two States in the context of a special request made in the light of recent developments in these two countries.

Opening the session, Antti Korkeakivi, Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General, said the global landscape today was fraught with challenges that continued to highlight the urgency and necessity of eradicating the heinous crime of enforced disappearances. 

Mr. Korkeakivi welcomed that, since the last session, Poland became party to Convention, which now had 77 States parties.  The holding of the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, held in Geneva two months ago, was a pivotal step in joining forces to address enforced disappearances and to encourage ratification of the Convention.  Since the last session, the Committee had registered 120 new urgent actions, bringing the number of registered urgent actions to a total of 2,003 since 2012.  Out of these cases, 518 have been closed following the location of the disappeared person, including 410 alive.

Olivier de Frouville, Committee Chairperson, in his opening statement, said the substantive work, the day-to-day work of the treaty bodies, was carried out by the members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and they should be recognised.  Investing in human rights was an investment in security and development.  However, the crisis in which multilateral organizations were experiencing, which also affected the human rights protection system, could not be ignored. 

It was practically impossible for the Committee to carry out regular monitoring, with more than 2,000 cases now recorded.  Yet the victims were counting on the Committee.  The Committee looked forward to the evaluation process under Measure 46, from the Pact of the Future, on adequate, predictable, more substantial and sustainable funding to enable the treaty bodies to carry out their mandates efficiently and effectively.

During the meeting, Obeida Dabbagh, recounted his family’s searched for justice after the arrest and subsequent enforced disappearance of his brother Mazen Dabbagh, and his son Patrick in November 2013 by the Syrian Air Force intelligence. 

Committee Expert Fidelis Kanyongolo thanked Mr. Dabbagh for sharing his story and underlined the importance of extra-territorial jurisprudence in the Committee’s work. 

Before closing the meeting, the Committee adopted its agenda for the session.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Webcasts of the meetings of the session can be found here, and meetings summaries can be found here.

The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 18 March, to review additional information on the report of Serbia (CED/C/SRB/AI/1).

Statements 

ANTTI KORKEAKIVI, Chief, Human Rights Treaties Branch at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General, thanked the five Members of the Committee whose first mandate would come to an end next June.  In accordance with the Convention, some may be re-elected by the States parties. States parties were called on to nominate well qualified candidates, as the deadline had been extended. 

The global landscape today was fraught with challenges that continued to highlight the urgency and necessity of eradicating the heinous crime of enforced disappearances. Enforced disappearances remained a pervasive violation of human rights, contributing to a climate of fear, despair and injustice.  It was therefore important to work towards universal ratification of the Convention. Since the last session, Poland became the seventy-seventh State party to the Convention, which should be celebrated. 

The holding of the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, held in Geneva two months ago, was a pivotal step in joining forces to address enforced disappearances and to encourage ratification of the Convention.  It gathered more than 620 participants in Geneva and 1,392 persons online, coming from 118 countries and all regions of the world.  The event concluded with a call to action and unveiling of key follow-up activities.  These initiatives included the creation of a victim-led regional network in Africa; the organization of regular meetings of women searchers; the promotion of civil society contributions to the sessions of the Committee; and the creation of a global youth network against enforced disappearances.  States were called on to support them without delay. 

Enforced disappearances had a disproportionate impact on women.  During the session, the Committee would consider a draft concept note for the elaboration of a general comment on women and girls and enforced disappearances.  Since the last session in September, the Committee undertook a two week-visit to Colombia, the report of which would be considered during the session.  During the session, the Committee would address the situation of enforced disappearances in 14 other States parties to the Convention, and the consideration of an individual complaint. 

Through the Committee’s work on urgent actions, the Committee could request a State party to take immediate action to search for a disappeared person and to investigate his or her disappearance.  Since the last session, the Committee had registered 120 new urgent actions, bringing the number of registered urgent actions to a total of 2,003 since 2012. Out of these cases, 518 have been closed following the location of the disappeared person, including 410 alive. This meant that 1,481 urgent actions remained active, requiring follow-up by the Committee.

The periodic reports on urgent actions adopted at each session traced the general trends in the cases and the Committee’s jurisprudence on urgent actions.

The Secretary-General’s latest report on the treaty body system highlighted the fact that due to insufficient staff resources, the Committee was facing challenges in handling urgent action requests and ensuring follow-up in a timely manner.  In addition to the chronic resource constraints, the liquidity crisis had hampered the planning and implementation of the Committee’s work.  While the Office was doing its utmost to ensure that the Committee and other treaty bodies could implement their mandates, all indications pointed to a continuation of the difficult liquidity situation for the foreseeable future. 

Despite the challenging circumstances, the treaty body strengthening process remained active. It reached a key moment, with the adoption last December of the biennial resolution on the treaty body system by the General Assembly.  On the occasion of Human Rights Day last year, the Geneva Human Rights Platform, in cooperation with the Office and the Directorate of International Law of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, organised an informal meeting of the Chairs and focal points on working methods.  The meeting explored the latest developments on the treaty body system and sought to identify possible ways to improve harmonisation of procedures and brainstorm on the way forward. 

Mr. Korkeakivi concluded by saying that the eradication and prevention of enforced disappearances demanded unwavering commitment and concerted action.  The work of the Committee was at the core of these efforts, despite the challenging circumstances.  The Office looked forward to continuing to support the Committee in implementing its imperative mandate. 

OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE, Chairperson of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, said the substantive work, the day-to-day work of the treaty bodies, was carried out by the members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and they should be recognised. 

Human rights currently faced particularly vicious rhetoric.  Ideologues were using the art of reversing arguments that totalitarian movements were already practicing in the 1930s.  All those who had worked alongside the families of the disappeared were familiar with this misleading rhetoric: the disappeared were often stigmatised as nuisances to society or even as criminals.  All over the world today, the return of this madness could be seen, and with it the return of enforced disappearance, torture and executions to bring society to heel and silence all dissent.  It was important to continue to bear witness to this, and for the Committee to continue to meet and organise.

The First World Congress on Enforced Disappearances was an extraordinary demonstration of the strength and resilience of the global movement against enforced disappearances. The families of the disappeared came in large numbers from all continents to testify and exchange their experiences, their challenges, their struggles, the adversity they faced, and the means to overcome it.  The Congress underscored the commitment of the major international non-governmental organizations and regional human rights protection organs. 

Sixteen States came publicly to the opening to announce their commitments and pledges; 86 per cent of attendees felt that the Congress would have a direct impact on their work, while 90 per cent expressed their wish to actively contribute to the implementation of the priority actions identified during the Congress.  This week the report of the Congress would be published; it would summarise all the activities that took place there, but also all the commitments made.  It was now important that all partners organised themselves to follow up on these commitments within the year, including a significant acceleration in the pace of ratifications of the Convention to achieve near-universality within a reasonable time.  To do this, resources were needed.

Investing in human rights was an investment in security and development.  However, the crisis which multilateral organizations were experiencing, which also affected the human rights protection system, could not be ignored.  It was practically impossible for the Committee to carry out regular monitoring, with more than 2,000 cases now recorded.  Yet the victims were counting on the Committee.  The Committee looked forward to the evaluation process under Measure 46, from the Pact of the Future, on adequate, predictable, more substantial and sustainable funding to enable the treaty bodies to carry out their mandates efficiently and effectively.

The General Assembly, in its last resolution on the Committee system, did not take into consideration the pragmatic and realistic proposals made by the treaty bodies, particularly with a view to reforming the reporting procedure.  However, all parties agreed on a necessary reform. But the States seemed undecided and were presenting difficult conditions.  The thirty-sixth official meeting of the Presidents was an opportunity for a constructive exchange with a view to reaching new proposals for action and improvements. 

The Committee was ahead of the curve and did not have a periodic reporting system.  States must submit a report within two years of ratification.  This was the subject of constructive dialogue and concluding observations, as would be the case at this session for the Gambia, the Central African Republic and Malta. States were then called upon to come back to the Committee after a few years to take stock of the implementation of the recommendations made in the concluding observations.  Thus, at the session, the Committee would consider follow-up and additional information provided by Panama, Serbia and Belgium, as well as by Peru and Argentina, in the context of a special request, made in light of recent developments in these two countries.

OBEIDA DABBAGH, said his brother Mazen Dabbagh, an educational advisor at the French Lycée Charles de Gaulle in Damascus, and his son Patrick, a psychology student at Damascus University, were arrested in November 2013 by Syrian Air Force intelligence. Their arrest, at first arbitrary, turned into an enforced disappearance, then into an ordeal marked by atrocious torture, as revealed by testimonies and court documents.  In 2018, the Syrian regime declared them dead, years after their disappearance, while putting forward false causes of death.  These arrests were not motivated by substantiated charges; neither Mazen nor Patrick were involved in protests against the regime, which underscored the indiscriminate and systemic brutality of a regime that preyed on entire families to establish its rule through terror.

In November 2013, the family took steps with the Syrian, French and international authorities, including the President of the French Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as several parliamentarians and human rights organizations, including the Red Cross and European Union.  In 2016, in collaboration with the International Federation for Human Rights, a complaint was filed with the Paris Prosecutor's office for crimes against humanity.  This was a turning point in the fight, allowing the French justice system to open an investigation and collect crucial testimonies, particularly from Syrian deserters.  This investigation led to an indictment order in March 2023, sending three senior Syrian regime officials to trial for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

There were many obstacles.  In Syria, asking for news of Mazen and Patrick exposed loved ones to serious reprisals.  The Syrian regime, in addition to torture and executions, extorted the family, eventually expelling Mazen's wife and daughter from the family home in Damascus.  But despite these hardships, Mr. Dabbagh remained committed.  Through this legal action, he wanted not only to obtain justice for Mazen and Patrick, but to participate in the global fight against the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime.  The trial held in France from 21 to 24 May 2024 against Syrian officials was a historic step forward, which would hopefully inspire other families of Syrian victims to continue their quest for justice, despite the obstacles. 

After the fall of the Assad regime, there was hope that the new authorities would take ownership of the issue of enforced disappearances, which concerned hundreds of thousands of people, through transitional justice.  The truth must be established, justice must be done, reparation must follow, without which reconciliation between communities could not be achieved.  Mr. Dabbagh hoped that in the near future the family would be able to know the place where his brother and nephew were buried, to give them a dignified burial, and to be able to finally mourn.

FIDELIS KANYONGOLO, Committee Expert, conveyed sincere gratitude to Mr. Dabbagh for taking the time to present his testimony and for being willing to revisit painful memories.  The testimony reinforced the heavy responsibility that lay upon the shoulders of the members of the Committee.  The concept of extra-territorial jurisdiction was particularly important in the Committee’s work.  In a world where many States continued to demonstrate reluctance to ratify the Convention, the ability of courts of willing countries to punish human rights violations was critical.  In this case, it was important to note that Syria had not ratified the Rome Statute, no resolution from the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Courts, and the domestic justice system was neither independent nor accountable.  Extra-territorial jurisdiction affirmed the idea that human rights were universal.

Mr. Dabbagh’s testimony showed that although the legal pathways existed for invoking extra-territorial jurisdiction, many practical hurdles continued to limit its potential as a tool for its application in specific cases.  It was hoped the testimony would act as a constant reminder for the Committee that they were dealing with the lives of real people who suffered the consequences of enforced disappearances, and that opportunities existed in jurisprudence to maximise the human rights protection extended to ordinary citizens of countries.

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

CED25.001E