484th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

Consideration of Honduras (cont'd) - 484th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

476th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED).

The CED is the body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance by the States parties. UN Web TV.

Watch the 476th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED) - Consideration of Burkina Faso (continued).

475th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED).

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is the body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties. The Committee and its Secretariat work daily to support victims, civil society organizations, National Human Rights Institutions and States to search for and locate disappeared persons, eradicate, punish and prevent this crime, and repair the damage suffered by the victims.

CED 26th Session (19 Feb - 01 Mar 2024).

Watch the 475th Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED) - Consideration of Burkina Faso.

474rd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED).

The Committee and its Secretariat work daily to support victims, civil society organizations, National Human Rights Institutions and States to search for and locate disappeared persons, eradicate, punish and prevent this crime, and repair the damage suffered by the victims. UN Web TV

Watch the 474rd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced disappearances (CED) - Consideration of Cambodia (continued).

473rd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

Watch the 473rd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) - Consideration of Cambodia.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is the body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties.

The Committee and its Secretariat work daily to support victims, civil society organizations, National Human Rights Institutions and States to search for and locate disappeared persons, eradicate, punish and prevent this crime, and repair the damage suffered by the victims.

CED 26th Session (19 Feb - 01 Mar 2024)

472nd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

Opening of session - Watch the 472nd Meeting, 26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is the body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties. The Committee and its Secretariat work daily to support victims, civil society organizations, National Human Rights Institutions and States to search for and locate disappeared persons, eradicate, punish and prevent this crime, and repair the damage suffered by the victims.

26th Session, Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) - 19 February - 01 March 2024.

Urge those responsible for enforced disappearances to immediately cease this practice.

On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we stand in solidarity with those who have been subjected to the anguish of separation from their families and friends.  We also extend our support to the family members, legal representatives, and human rights defenders who tirelessly champion the cause of the victims.  Regrettably, these advocates often encounter severe harassment and reprisals themselves.

The issue of enforced disappearances and missing persons is a global concern. The United States calls on all governments to confront the issue of disappeared or missing individuals.  We urge those responsible for enforced disappearances to immediately cease this practice, disclose information about the victims to their loved ones, and either release the victims unconditionally or return the remains of those who have tragically lost their lives.  Furthermore, we call upon governments to halt any harassment and retaliatory actions against individuals advocating for the rights of victims of enforced disappearances.

ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE.

12th Annual Report on Enforced Disappearance in Syria.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today released its 12th annual report on enforced disappearance in Syria, in observance of the International Day of the Disappeared that marks August 30 of every year. The group noted that no fewer than 112,713 of the people arrested in Syria since March 2011 are still forcibly disappeared, including 3,105 children and 6,698 women.

The 44-page report outlines numerous incidents of enforced disappearance and includes many accounts of victims’ families. The report notes that the ongoing incidence of enforced disappearances in Syria, perpetrated by the various parties to the conflict and controlling forces in the country, is one of the most complex and monstrous violations that has haunted the nation for 12 years to date. This is because the phenomenon of enforced disappearance in Syria involves a sequential string of gross violations, from arbitrary arrest to unlawful detention and deprivation of personal freedom, as well as torture in its various physical, psychological, and sexual forms, and exceptional trials involving summary and secretive procedures. Enforced disappearance, by its very nature, usually takes place hidden from view, with forcibly disappeared persons lacking all and any forms of protection and legal and human rights monitoring. That is to say that their most fundamental rights are deliberately denied in detention centers, where they are additionally subjected to agonizing and severe torture and absolute medical negligence. Moreover, while all parties to the conflict have resorted to use of enforced disappearance as a means to intimidate society, spread fear, and consolidate control, the Syrian regime’s security machine uses enforced disappearance in a widespread and systematic manner, viewing it as an extremely effective instrument with which to subjugate and crush any aspirations for change, freedom, and democracy. Through its ruthless use of enforced disappearance, the Syrian regime has massively surpassed all other parties to the conflict by inflicting and perpetuating use of this terrible strategy against all groups in Syrian society, whether men, women or children, the very old or very young, without showing the slightest shred of human decency or consideration and without making any exception for the most vulnerable victims.

Fadel Abdul Ghany, SNHR Executive Director, says:

“Enforced disappearance is one of the most prominent reasons why millions of IDPs and refugees refuse to return to their homes. In today’s Syria, forcibly disappeared persons account for approximately five percent of the total Syrian population numbered at roughly 24 million. Five percent is an extremely and alarmingly high percentage, and is the worst in the world. This is without mentioning the other agonies that forcibly disappeared persons suffer, such as torture, seizure of properties and lands, and family disintegration.”

The report outlines the toll of enforced disappearance since the beginning of the popular uprising for freedom in Syria in March 2011 up until August 2023. The report mainly focuses on the violations committed by SNHR’s team during the past year, August 2022 to August 2023. In this, the report stresses that the Syrian regime continues to tamper with laws and records and continues to record more forcibly disappeared persons as dead in the civil registry records. Additionally, the report presents an outline of the most notable figures who hold leadership positions in the Syrian regime’s security agencies, security/committees, and military bodies, which are involved in enforced disappearance crimes against tens of thousands of Syrians.

The report mainly draws upon SNHR’s regularly updated database that we created and which we’ve developed over the past 12 years. The report also draws upon interviews with enforced disappearance victims’ families from across Syria, with 18 accounts included in this report that have been gathered directly, and not taken from any second-hand sources.

As the report further clarifies, the newly formed UN institution on missing persons in Syria will undoubtedly galvanize efforts at both the Syrian and international levels in support for resolving the missing persons issue, and perhaps lead to the creation of a central database with a platform to enable tens of thousands of families to safely contact it. While we welcome this development, there are, nonetheless, a number of concerns regarding this new body that need to be addressed. First, in its current development stage, the new body does not have a clearly defined role in ensuring the release of arbitrarily arrested detainees; second, there is no explicit text referring to holding those responsible for perpetrating violations in Syria accountable; third, the predictable lack of cooperation by the parties to the conflict will complicate its mandate in revealing the fate of the missing.

The report also reveals that SNHR is in regular and continuous contact with the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the UN Special Rapporteur on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism- Specific work on victims of terrorism, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health on these cases. Since March 2011, the report further reveals, SNHR has briefed the UN Working Group on no fewer than 593 enforced disappearance cases; including those of dozens of women, children, and whole families. In addition, we are still documenting and processing hundreds of cases in accordance with our rigorous methodology.

As the report reveals, no fewer than 155,604 of the people arrested in Syria between March 2011 and August 2023, including 5,213 children and 10,176 women (adult female), are still under arrest and/or forcibly disappeared by the parties to the conflict and controlling forces. Of these, the Syrian regime holds 135,638 individuals, including 3,693 children and 8,478 women, while no fewer than 8,684 individuals, including 319 children and 255 women, have been forcibly disappeared by ISIS. Furthermore, 2,514, including 46 children and 45 women, are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Meanwhile, no fewer than 4,064 individuals, including 364 children and 874 women, are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of all armed opposition factions/Syrian National Army (SNA), in addition to 4,704 individuals, including 791 children and 524 women, who are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Moreover, no fewer than 112,713 of the individuals arrested between March 2011 and August 2023, including 3,105 children and 6,698 women (adult female), are still forcibly disappeared by the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria. Of those, the Syrian regime is holding or has forcibly disappeared 96,103 individuals, including 2,327 children and 5,739 women, while no fewer than 8,684 individuals, including 319 children and 255 women, have been forcibly disappeared by ISIS. Furthermore, the report notes that 2,162 people, including 17 children and 32 women, are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of HTS. Meanwhile, no fewer than 2,943 individuals, including 256 children and 563 women, are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of all armed opposition factions/SNA, since 2011 in all of the areas currently and previous under their control, in addition to 2,821 individuals, including 186 children and 109 women, who are still detained/forcibly disappeared at the hands of the SDF.

The report further stresses that all the amnesty decrees issued by the Syrina regime have completely failed to secure the release of any significant number of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons. These decrees have had no real effect or led to any transparency, or to any mechanisms that might ensure the release of all detainees and forcibly disappeared persons or compensate them. Put plainly, these decrees are a cruel political deception used to promote the appearance of the Syrian regime’s taking action in order to alleviate international pressure on it while in reality further exploiting and extorting the families of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons. In this context, the report notes that no fewer than 7,351 individuals (6,086 civilians and 1,265 military servicemen) have been released from the Syrian regime’s various civilian and military prisons and detention centers across Syria in relation to the 22 amnesty decrees issued by the regime between March 2011 and October 2022. Of those 6,086 civilians, 349 are women and 159 were children at the time of their arrest. We have recorded no releases in relation to the most recent amnesty decree issued by the Syrian regime on December 21, 2022, also known as Legislative Decree No. 24 of 2022.

The report also provides a running count of the toll of forcibly disappeared persons since March 2011, and its distribution by year and according to the parties to the conflict. As the report shows, the first four years of the popular uprising for freedom saw the largest waves of enforced disappearance, with 2012 being the worst, followed by 2013, then 2011, and then 2014.

Additionally, the report shows a distribution of enforced disappearances by governorate (i.e., where enforced disappearances took place, rather than the victim’s governorate of origin) at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria. According to the report, Rural Damascus (Rif Dimshaq) governorate saw the highest number of enforced disappearances, followed by Aleppo, then Damascus, and then Deir Ez-Zour.

The report further notes that, since the beginning of 2018, the Syrian regime has been recording some of the forcibly disappeared persons as dead in the civil registry records. The report reveals that the Syrian regime has disclosed the deaths of no fewer than 1,609 individuals, including 24 children, 21 women, and 16 medical personnel, in the civil registry records since the beginning of 2018 up until August 2023. The causes of these victims’ deaths were not provided in these records, while their bodies have not been returned to their families, and their deaths were not announced when they took place. The report stresses that the Syrina regime has employed its institutions at multiple levels to carry out these unlawful practices and tamper with the civil records of the disappeared, from the ministries of interior and justice to the officials at the civil registry offices across all of Syria.

Furthermore, the report stresses that arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances are two of the most serious risks facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees returning to regime-held areas, even for those who have never been involved in any dissident activism. As the report reveals, since the beginning of 2014, up until August 2023, no fewer than 3,376 refugees, including 246 children and 212 women (adult female), who returned from their countries of asylum or residence to their original areas of residence in Syria have been arrested by Syrian regime forces. A total of 2,094 of these detainees were released, while 926 of the remaining 1,282 detainees, most of whom returned from Lebanon, Türkiye, and Jordan, have gone on to be classified as forcibly disappeared. In the same period, no fewer than 989 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who returned to regime-held areas were also arrested, including 22 children and 19 women. The Syrian regime released 246 of these IDPs, while of the remaining 743, a total of 538 have gone on to become forcibly disappeared persons. We have also documented that the Syrian regime re-arrested some of the 246 released detainees in order to forcibly conscript them into the military.

Moreover, the report stresses that hundreds of figures holding leadership positions in the Syrian regime’s security agencies, military divisions, and military and security committees are or have been involved in the violations committed against the Syrian people and the Syrian state since 2011. Enforced disappearance has been practiced in a systematic and widespread way under the direct supervision of the Syrian regime’s entire leadership hierarchy, starting with the President of the Republic, who directly controls the ministries of interior and defense, the National Security Bureau, and their various security agencies and security and military committees. In this context, it should be noted that decisions on appointments, promotions, and transfers of officials heading security agencies are taken through the orders and decrees issued exclusively by the President of the Republic. In this context, the report provides names and brief summaries on some of the figures most heavily involved in forcibly disappearing tens of thousands of Syrians as documented on SNHR’s database on the perpetrators of violations.

The report notes that the Syrian regime has failed to uphold any of its obligations dictated by the international conventions and instruments it has ratified, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, the Syrian regime has violated multiple articles in the Syrian Constitution written and adopted by the very same regime. In this, the Syrian regime continues to detain hundreds of thousands of detainees who have been held for many years with no arrest warrant or charges. These detainees are also denied any opportunity to appoint a lawyer or receive visits from their families. Approximately, 68.25 percent of all detainees have gone on to become forcibly disappeared. These detainees’ families have not been informed of their whereabouts. If the desperately worried families try to inquire about the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones, security branches deny any knowledge of them, and the family members are themselves at risk of persecution for asking.

The report further stresses that enforced disappearance has been practiced as part of a widespread attack against all groups of the civilian population, with the Syrian regime being the main perpetrator of this crime by a vast margin compared to other parties to the conflict. In the Syrian regime’s case, this constitutes a crime against humanity according to Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and is also a war crime according to Article 8 of the same instrument since it was committed “as part of a plan or policy” primarily by the Syrian regime in its response to the popular uprising for freedom.

The report adds that other parties to the conflict have practiced enforced disappearance, albeit not with the same standardized character and prevalence as that of the Syrian regime. There is also a difference in terms of the quantity and distribution of cases. However, the cases of HTS and ISIS bear a similarity to the Syrian regime’s in terms of the wide distribution and systematic nature of cases.

The report calls on the UN Security Council and the UN to protect tens of thousands of detainees and persons forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime from the certain risk of dying due to torture, and to save those who are still alive. In addition, the report calls on the UN Security Council and the UN to work to reveal the fate of forcibly disappeared persons in tandem with, or before launching further rounds of any political process, and establish a strict timetable to reveal their fate.

The report also calls on the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to increase the levels of manpower working on the forcibly disappeared persons issue at the office of the Special Rapporteur on cases of enforced disappearance in Syria in light of the magnitude and massive level of enforced disappearance in the country, in addition to making a number of other recommendations.

Through Food, We Remember: A Search for Missing and Disappeared in Mexico and Beyond.

Honoring memory and activism on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

The Sahrawi Human Rights Committee demands the disclosure of the fate of disappeared Sahrawis and the release of Sahrawi political detainees.

The world commemorates the International Day of Enforced Disappearance on August 30 as a form of solidarity with the forcibly abducted and their families and to demand the disclosure of their fate and the necessity of respecting the requirements of the relevant international covenants and conventions, especially the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Since its occupation of Western Sahara, the Moroccan occupation state has been practicing the crimes of kidnapping and enforced disappearance without punishment, with the unknown fate of hundreds of kidnapped Sahrawis to this day, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which has encouraged the occupying state to commit crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and confiscation of the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.

‘Wait never ends’ for families of the forcibly disappeared in Bangladesh.

Rights groups say more than 600 people disappeared since Awami League government led by PM Sheikh Hasina came to power.

Who is the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)?

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) is the body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties.

(1st meeting) 7th Meeting of States parties to the International Convention on Enforced Disappearances (ICED), Election for the Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

The Committee and its Secretariat work daily to support victims, civil society organizations, National Human Rights Institutions and States to search for and locate disappeared persons, eradicate, punish and prevent this crime, and repair the damage suffered by the victims.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances is composed of 10 independent experts - persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.

In accordance with article 26 of the Convention, the term of five of the members elected will expire on 30 June 2023. Thus, five seats in the Committee must now be filled through an election.

The seventh Meeting of States parties and the election of five members of the Committee will take place in UNHQ New York, on 12 June 2023.

Members serve in their personal capacity and may be re-elected once if nominated.

7th meeting of the States parties International Convention on Enforced Disappearances (ICED), Election for the Committee on Enforced Disappearances

Türkiye - Enforced disappearances in the context of transnational transfer.

The Working Group is concerned that, during the reporting cycle, the Government of Türkiye has continued to resort to the use of enforced disappearance in the context of transnational transfers, using such transfers as a pretext for an effective means to combat terrorism. The Working Group recalls that no circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances. It also emphasizes the importance of implementing the recommendations contained in the most recent annual report of the Working Group in relation to enforced disappearances in the context of transnational transfer, including to: cease justifying enforced disappearances on the grounds of protecting national security, combating terrorism and tackling extremism; conduct independent and effective investigations into possible violations, hold perpetrators accountable and provide victims and their families with the right to an effective remedy; and take all measures necessary to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future.I

Syrian Arab Republic - Issue of underreporting of disappearances.

The Working Group notes that the number of cases of enforced disappearance in Syrian Arab Republic reported to it has increased to 605 (567 men and 38 women), which represents a small fraction of the actual number of men, women, boys and girls who have been subjected to enforced disappearance since the beginning of the conflict in the country. Regrettably, the main role of the Working Group as a channel of communication between relatives and the authorities continues to be undermined by the lack of cooperation on the part of the Syrian authorities. Furthermore, there is an issue of underreporting of disappearances owing to several factors, including a fear of reprisal on the part of family members for reporting the disappearance of their loved ones.

The Working Group has consistently maintained that all duty bearers, including nonState actors, must ensure full transparency and accountability in relation to persons in their custody, account for their fate and whereabouts to relatives and ensure that due process and fair trial rights are respected and protected. All places of detention should be disclosed, with complete lists of names and formal registration of all those held in such facilities, and should ensure that such persons are only held in recognized facilities. The Working Group has also underlined the obligation to conduct effective searches for the disappeared and, in the event of their death, to ensure the exhumation, respect, identification and return of their remains to their relatives for dignified burial. Mass graves and burial sites must be duly secured and preserved, with a view to preventing instances of manipulation or alteration, in order to ensure, at the earliest possible opportunity, that exhumations are conducted in line with applicable international forensic standards.

The Working Group is following the discussions on how to bolster efforts to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing people in the Syrian Arab Republic closely, including through the establishment of a new independent mechanism. As stated previously, including during meetings with family associations, the Working Group is prepared to offer its expertise in this process, within the remit of its mandate. On 19 September 2011, the Working Group requested an invitation to visit the country. No response yet has been received from the Government, in spite of several reminders. The Working Group hopes to receive a positive reply soon.

Russian Federation/Ukraine - Allegations about victims of involuntary disappearances transferred to detention facilities

The Working Group is deeply concerned by the numerous reports it has received concerning enforced disappearances perpetrated by the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups against civilians, local officials, human rights defenders, journalists and priests in the occupied parts of Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion of that country in February 2022. Prisoners of war were also reportedly subjected to enforced disappearance. It should be noted that the actual number of cases appears to be significantly higher that the number reported.

It is alleged that the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups have held abducted persons in improvised places of detention, including in schools, buildings of Government institutions, warehouses, barns and industrial buildings in the territory of Ukraine under their control. After several days or weeks of secret detention, many of the victims were reportedly transferred to detention facilities in the Russian Federation through Belarus, the Crimea and the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by the Russian affiliated armed groups before 24 February 2022.

The Working Group emphasizes that, pursuant to customary international humanitarian law, enforced disappearance is prohibited. Similarly, each party to the conflict must take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of armed conflict and must provide their family members with all available information on their fate and whereabouts. The Working Group recalls that article 7 of the Declaration stipulates that no circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances.

In this regard, the Working Group underlines that procedural safeguards upon arrest and during the first hours of deprivation of liberty are essential to prevent possible human rights violations. These safeguards include immediate registration, judicial oversight of the detention, notification of family members as soon as an individual is deprived of liberty and the assistance of a defence lawyer of one’s choice.

The Working Group hopes that the Government will soon reply positively to its request to conduct a country visit transmitted on 2 November 2006 and in subsequent communications. It also hopes to be able to hold a meeting with representatives of the Government soon in order to discuss the seriousness of the situation, as highlighted above, possibly at the next session of the Working Group, to be held from 19 to 28 September 2022.

Sri Lanka -Increasing number of allegations received concerning acts of harassment and intimidation against relatives of disappeared persons.

The Working Group is concerned at the increasing number of allegations received concerning acts of harassment and intimidation against relatives of disappeared persons, especially in the northern provinces of the country, including through police surveillance and interference in their attempts to gather and undertake human rights-related work.

The Working Group refers to article 13 (3) and (5) of the Declaration, which provide that that steps shall be taken to ensure that “all involved in the investigation, including the complainant, counsel, witnesses and those conducting the investigation, are protected against ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal” and that “any ill-treatment, intimidation or reprisal or any other form of interference on the occasion of the lodging of a complaint or during the investigation procedure is appropriately punished”. In this regard, the Working Group recalls its thematic report on standards and public policies for an effective investigation of enforced disappearances and principle 14 of the guiding principles for the search for disappeared persons issued by the Committee on Enforced Disappearances