COMMITTEE ON ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES CLOSES TWELFTH SESSION

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances closed its twelfth session this afternoon after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Cuba, Ecuador and Senegal, whose reports were considered during the session. The Committee bid farewell to four outgoing Committee Members, and heard the Committee Rapporteur’s summary of the annual Report of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which covered the eleventh and twelfth sessions of the Committee, and which would be presented to the General Assembly.

The concluding observations on the reports of Cuba, Ecuador and Senegal can be read here.

At the beginning of the meeting, Juan Jose Lopez, Committee Rapporteur, summarized the Committee’s Annual Report which covered the eleventh and twelfth sessions of the Committee and which would be presented to the next General Assembly of the United Nations. Mr. Lopez indicated that the first session of the Conference of State Parties to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances had been held at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 19 December 2016. The Conference had examined the functioning of the Committee and had recognized that the Committee efficiently monitored the implementation of the Convention, in accordance with the functions defined in the Convention. During the reporting period, the Committee had not received any allegation by individuals of acts of intimidation or reprisals for cooperating with the Committee. Presenting the report of the twelfth session, Mr. Lopez said that the Committee had adopted concluding observations on Cuba, Senegal, and Ecuador, as well as Lists of Issues on Gabon and Lithuania. Mr. Lopez expressed satisfaction that the Central African Republic, Switzerland, Seychelles, and the Czech Republic had ratified the Convention, bringing the number of States parties to 56.

Santiago Corcuera, Committee Chairperson, thanked the four outgoing Members for their outstanding work, professionalism, friendship, and dedication to the work of the Committee. The four Experts whose mandates were ending this summer were Kimio Yakushiji (Japan); Mohammed al-Obaidi (Iraq); Luciano Hazan (Argentina); and Juan Jose Lopez Ortega (Spain). He said that three elements had to be born in mind, if the Convention and the Committee were to be strengthened: ratifications, a greater recognition of the treaty bodies and their competences, and a greater degree of implementation of the provisions of the Covenant with the help of the concluding observations and recommendations by the Committee.

The four departing Members of the Committee thanked their colleagues for their support and bid farewell to the Committee.

Simon Walker, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, thanked the Committee for their work in combatting enforced disappearances. He wished the best of luck to the departing Experts.

The thirteenth session of the Committee will be held in Geneva from 4 to 15 September 2017, when the Committee will consider reports of Gabon and Lithuania.



For use of the information media; not an official record

CED17/007E