The International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) gathers organizations of families of disappearedand NGO’s that work in a non-violent manner against the practice of enforced disappearances at the local, national andinternational level. The principal objective of ICAED is an early ratification and effective implementation of theInternational Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
Statement of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances(ICAED)for the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and InvoluntaryDisappearances (UN WGEID)10 November 2011
At the conclusion of the three-day conference of the International Coalition AgainstEnforced Disappearances (ICAED) in Geneva, the Coalition underscored the crucialrole the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearanceshas played in the global campaign to end enforced disappearances.It is lamentable that despite the ICAED’s active and steadfast lobby both in thenational and international levels for the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, a significant number of its member-organizations come from countries that have not yet signed much lessratified the Convention.In this light, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or InvoluntaryDisappearances (WGEID) remains the principal venue where families of thedisappeared and organizations dealing with the subject of enforced disappearancecan make their voices heard, more particularly concerning individual petitions andgeneral allegations. Accordingly, the ICAED calls on the WGEID to continuedischarging its functions even as it strongly urges the United Nations to provide theWGEID with the necessary staffing and resources.The ICAED encourages the WGEID to closely cooperate with the newly establishedCommittee on Enforced Disappearances and share its 30-year experience andexpertise with this new monitoring body for it to adopt best practices that caneffectively protect human rights.The ICAED expresses its appreciation for the recent country visit made by theWGEID to the Republic of the Congo, which now brings the Working Group back tothe African continent. Concomitantly, the ICAED stresses that attention to the Africancontinent is most needed, as the rising number of enforced disappearancesthroughout the continent has become alarming. Under-reporting remains a problemamidst harassments, threats and attacks directed against associations of relatives of the disappeared. Hence, the ongoing monitoring by the WGEID is imperative.
The International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) gathers organizations of families of disappearedand NGO’s that work in a non-violent manner against the practice of enforced disappearances at the local, national andinternational level. The principal objective of ICAED is an early ratification and effective implementation of theInternational Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.
The ICAED encourages the WGEID to continue conducting country-visits whichshould be announced as promptly as possible, in order to enable the widest possibleparticipation of civil society organizations (CSOs). Moreover, the ICAED stresses thefundamental importance of a regular system of follow through on the conclusionsand recommendations issued at the end of each mission.The ICAED calls on the WGEID to sustain its accessibility to the relatives of thedisappeared from all over the world, ensure flexibility of its procedures and take intoaccount the difficulties experienced in the field.In the light of the overriding importance of the country missions, the ICAED proposesthat the WGEID consider modifying formal country visits and working missions. Thevisit of experts to different countries, even if not in the framework of official countrymissions, would enable them to formulate meaningful recommendations togovernments and pursue fruitful dialogues with local civil society organizations.The ICAED calls on the WGEID to continue close monitoring of the replies receivedfrom governments and to ensure that families of the disappeared, representatives of civil society, and sources of information have the opportunity to express their viewson these replies.The ICAED draws the attention of the WGEID to the specific phenomenon of theenforced disappearance of children, which has its own peculiarities and proposesthat the Working Group elaborates on this in a general comment, identifying existingbest practices and the responsibilities of governments.The ICAED congratulates the WGEID for its recent study on the best practicesconcerning the crime of enforced disappearance in domestic criminal legislation. Inthis light, the ICAED calls on the WGEID to continue monitoring the enactment of domestic laws that criminalize enforced disappearance as an autonomous offence,in order to ensure compliance with international standards. In the event of non-observance of such norms, it behooves the WGEID to issue concreterecommendations to concerned governments.The ICAED reiterates its gratitude for the Working Group’s unwavering support to theglobal struggle to eradicate enforced disappearance even as the Coalition pledgesits support to the Working Group in carrying out its mandate.
Participating Organizations to the ICAED International Conference on EnforcedDisappearancesNovember 7-9, 2011Geneva Switzerland
Asian Federation Against Enforced Disappearances (AFAD)Al-Ata’a for Human Rights Support-IraqAmnesty InternationalAsamblea Permante por los Derechos Humanos - ArgentinaAsociación de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales yTorturados Huancayo-Junín (AFDDEET) -Peru
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Statement of the ICAED for the WGEID -FINAL
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