UNITED NATIONS WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES MEETS IN NEW YORK

Press Release
HR/4411*

UNITED NATIONS WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES MEETS IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, 13 May -- The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is reviewing 634 cases of disappearances brought to its attention since its November session, during its fifty-seventh session in New York from 10 to 14 May.

The Working Group meets three times a year -- twice in Geneva and once in New York. Cases are submitted to it by representatives of human rights organizations, associations of relatives of missing persons, and families or witnesses directly concerned with reports of enforced disappearances. The Group is composed of five experts who serve in their personal capacities.

An example of an enforced or an involuntary disappearance may be seen when a person is arrested, detained, abducted or otherwise deprived of his or her liberty by officials of different branches or levels of government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on their behalf, or with the direct or indirect support, consent or acquiescence of the government. That would then be followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the person concerned, or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of his or her liberty, thereby placing that person outside the protection of the law.

The commitment of the United Nations to the protection and promotion of human rights prompted it to devote particular attention to the widespread practice of enforced disappearances in various regions. The practice transgresses a wide range of rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- the fiftieth anniversary of which is being commemorated this year -- and other major instruments. Attention was first devoted to the issue in 1979, when the General Assembly asked the Commission on Human Rights to consider the question of disappearances and make recommendations.

The main function of the Working Group, which was established in 1980, is to assist the relatives of disappeared persons in ascertaining their fate and whereabouts and acting as a channel for communication between the families and the governments concerned. It also monitors the compliance of States with their obligations under the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

* Reissued for technical reasons

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Adopted by the Assembly on 18 December 1992, that Declaration affirmed that any act of enforced disappearance was an offence to human dignity. It also laid down guidelines for all States and strongly encouraged them "to take effective legislative, administrative and judicial measures to prevent and terminate acts of enforced disappearance" in territories under their jurisdiction. To that end, States are obliged to make such acts offences under criminal law and to establish civil liability.

The Working Group has established an urgent action procedure in order to avoid any delays in its efforts to save human lives. By that procedure, its Chairman is authorized to process cases that allegedly occurred in the three months prior to the date when they were reported to the Group. During 1997, the Group sent urgent action appeals to governments with respect to 140 cases.

There are now 45,129 cases under active consideration by the Working Group, some involving individuals who have been missing for more than 20 years. Cases from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, now totalling about 25,000, are not part of this figure. Countries with the highest number of alleged cases are Iraq (16,496), Sri Lanka (12,208), Argentina (3,453), Guatemala (3,151), Peru (3,004) and El Salvador (2,661).

During 1997, the Working Group received some 1,247 new cases of disappearances in 26 countries and clarified 122 cases. There were outstanding cases of alleged disappearances in 64 countries. The countries with the most alleged cases in 1996 and 1997 were Algeria, Iraq, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Colombia and Mexico. More than 2,801 cases have been clarified by the Group since its inception.

Note: Additional information may be obtained from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights -- tel. (212) 963-6152; or Mr. Saleem I. Fahmawi, Development and Human Rights Section, United Nations Department of Public Information -- tel: (212) 963-1887.

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