Committee on Enforced Disappearances
BACKGROUND RELEASE 

30 August 2017

  Committee to Consider Reports of Gabon and Lithuania

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances will review how Gabon and Lithuania implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance during its thirteenth session from 4 to 15 September 2017 in Room XVI at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

At the opening of the session on Monday, 4 September, the Committee will meet in public at 10 a.m., to hear a statement from a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and a solemn declaration by the newly elected members of the Committee, elect its new Chair, adopt its agenda and programme of work, and hold a minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances.  In a closed meeting, the Committee will hear briefings on the States under review by United Nations organizations, specialized agencies and mechanisms, human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.

The report of Gabon (CED/C/GAB/1) will be considered by the Committee on the afternoon of 4 September and the morning of 5 September, whereas the report of Lithuania (CED/C/LTU/1) will be considered on the afternoon of 5 September and the morning of 6 September.  The Committee will issue concluding observations and recommendations on the situation in Gabon and Lithuania with regard to the implementation of the Convention at the end of the session.

On Wednesday, 13 September in the afternoon, the Committee will hold separate public meetings with Member States; with United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations; with national human rights institutions; and with non-governmental organizations and civil society.

In private meetings, the Committee will consider individual communications and requests for urgent actions received by the Committee, discuss matters related to its methods of work, adopt lists of issues prior to reporting with respect to Albania, Austria and Honduras, and discuss follow-up to concluding observations on States parties’ reports (Iraq, Montenegro, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, and Burkina Faso).

Detailed meeting coverage can be found in English and French on the United Nations Information Service’s webpage and further information, including copies of the States parties’ reports, all related documentation and the programme of work, are available on the session’s webpage.

The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings will be available via the following link: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/.

Background

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances is the monitory body which oversees the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force on 23 December 2010. To date, 57 States have ratified or acceded to the Convention: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia,  Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay and Zambia.

The Convention states that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance. The Convention contains a universally agreed definition of enforced disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law”.

The main goals of the Convention are to hold States responsible for the protection of persons from enforced disappearances by defeating impunity, to prevent new cases of enforced disappearances and to guarantee the right to the truth and to obtain reparation of both the disappeared and their families.

Committee Experts

The members of the Committee are: Mr. Mohammed Ayat (Morocco), Mr. Moncef Baati (Tunisia), Mr. Emmanuel Decaux (France), Ms. Maria Clara Galvis Patiño (Colombia), Mr. Daniel Figallo Rivadeneyra (Peru), Mr. Rainer Huhle (Germany), Ms. Suela Janina (Albania), Ms. Milica Kolaković-Bojović (Serbia), Mr. Horacio Ravenna (Argentina), and Mr. Koji Teraya (Japan).

Programme of Work

Monday, 4 September

10 a.m.   Opening of the session, adoption of the agenda and consideration of the programme of work, swearing in of the newly elected members of the Committee, election of Chair, minute of silence in remembrance of victims of enforced disappearances
10.40 a.m.     Closed meeting
3 p.m.          Report of Gabon (CED/C/GAB/1)

Tuesday, 5 September

10 a.m.         Gabon (continued)
3 p.m.          Report of Lithuania (CED/C/LTU/1)

Wednesday, 6 September

10 a.m.         Lithuania (continued)
3 p.m.          Closed meeting

Thursday, 7 September

Closed meetings

 
Friday, 8 September

Closed meetings

Monday, 11 September

Closed meetings

Tuesday, 12 September

Closed meetings

Wednesday, 13 September

10 a.m.         Closed meeting
3 p.m.          Meeting with State parties
Meeting with United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and Intergovernmental Organizations 
Meeting with national human rights institutions
Meeting with non-governmental organizations and civil society
5 p.m.          Closed meeting

Thursday, 14 September

Closed meetings

Friday, 15 September

10 a.m.         Closed meeting
  3 p.m.          Public closing of the session

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For use of the information media; not an official record

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