FIACAT

Élections des membres du Comité sur les disparitions forcées

NJ et GC — 2011-05-31T08:52:00Z

Élections des membres du Comité sur les disparitions forcées 31 mai 2011

La première réunion des États parties à la Convention internationale pour la protection de toutes les personnes contre les disparitions forcées s'est tenue le 31 mai 2011 au Siège des Nations Unies à New York. Le but principal de la réunion était d'élire les 10 membres du Comité sur les disparitions forcées.

Pour présider la première réunion des États parties, ont été élus : M. Jorge Martín Arturo Argüello (Argentine) en tant que Président de la Réunion ainsi que les trois vice-présidents suivants : M. Hamid Al Bayati (Iraq), Mme Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen (France) et Mme Admira Jorgji (Albanie).

Conformément à l'article 26 de la Convention, les États parties ont élus au scrutin secret les 10 membres du Comité sur les disparitions forcées :

Name	Nationality
Mr. Mohammed AL-OBAIDI	Iraq
Mr. Mamadou Badio CAMARA	Senegal
Mr. Emmanuel DECAUX	France
Mr. Alvaro GARCÉ GARCÍA Y SANTOS	Uruguay
Mr. Luciano HAZAN	Argentina
Mr. Rainer HUHLE	Germany
Ms. Suela JANINA	Albania
Mr. Juan José LÓPEZ ORTEGA	Spain
Mr. Enoch MULEMBE	Zambia
Mr. Kimio YAKUSHIJI	Japan

[HRC 16] FIACAT's oral statement delivered on behalf of the ICAED

NJ et GC — 2011-03-10T15:56:00Z

16th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council,
28 February-25 March 2011,
Item 3 General Debate

Mr President,

The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) welcomes the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance on 23 December 2010.. Implementation of the treaty will be monitored by a Committee, elections to which will take place on 31 May 2011.

Our experience tells us that there is considerable scope for improving the usual process of nominating candidates and electing members to the UN treaty bodies, and for drawing on the good practice that exists in other international and regional bodies regarding the selection of candidates. The establishment of this new treaty body affords States parties a rare and important opportunity to take a principled approach aimed at electing the very highest calibre of independent experts to this body.

Mr President,

The Convention establishes that the Committee shall comprise ten experts of high moral character, who have recognized competence in the field of human rights and who shall serve in their personal capacity. Due account shall be taken of equitable geographical distribution, relevant legal experience and balanced gender representation.

In addition to these criteria, the ICAED calls on States parties to take the following actions :

First, establish a fair, open and transparent national process of selection of candidates. Some States parties have established a process at the national level for the nomination of members to treaty bodies, involving consultation with NGOs and/or independent national human rights institutions, or putting in place an open recruitment process to select a candidate. These very different models could be considered and applied by all States parties in the nomination of candidates for these upcoming elections.

Second, commit themselves to nominating a candidate for these elections and to ensuring that there will be no “clean slates”.

Third, work for transparency at the international level around the election process. States parties should make public at the earliest opportunity information about their nominee(s) and the candidates for whom they have voted.

Fourth, States parties should elect a committee that is multi-disciplinary and reflects the broad range of expertise that is required for it to fulfil its mandate effectively. Given the scope of the Convention and the breadth of tasks entrusted to the Committee, it will be important for there to be a range of expertise across the membership.

Lastly, we call on all States parties to vote only for candidates who meet the highest standards of independence, impartiality and who have relevant skills and expertise, as well as a demonstrated commitment to human rights, in particular to preventing and resolving cases of enforced or involuntary disappearances.

The ICAED takes this opportunity to call on all States to ratify without limiting reservations the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, and to make provision for individual, as well as inter-state, complaints.

Thank you, Mr President.

[Press release] International Day of the Disappeared : giving voice to the disappeared

NJ et GC — 2010-08-30T11:56:00Z

Paris, 30 August 2010

On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, ACAT-France, FEMED and FIACAT have today called for an end to enforced disappearances across the world.

“We must never remain silent. We must be the voice of the disappeared, who cannot speak for themselves. We must continue to speak out loud” was the message conveyed by Edita Burgos. This Filipino woman has not seen her son Jonas since 28 April 2007. An agronomist aged 37, he was taken away by two policemen in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses. Since then, however, no one knows anything of his whereabouts and the authorities have denied they are holding him.

Every year across the world, thousands of people like Jonas Burgos are arrested or abducted by state officials and then disappear. Bereft of legal protection, they are often tortured, under constant threat of death, or murdered leaving no trace.

This despicable practice, which was used extensively in the 1970s in Morocco and Latin America, very quickly spread to every other continent. The crime of enforced disappearance violates several fundamental rights simultaneously ; those of the victim, but also those of their families, who are plunged into excruciating uncertainty. In Asia, Africa and Europe, the families of the disappeared have been calling for decades for the truth to be established as regards the fate of their loved ones, but have met with indifference from the states concerned, who have declined all responsibility as to the perpetration of this crime.

Jean-Etienne de Linares, Delegate General for ACAT-France, has described enforced disappearance as “a crime characterised by organised denial and impunity, violation of the fundamental rights of the human person and permanent suffering for their families”. Nassera Dutour, President of FEMED, has added that “the victims' next of kin are entitled to know what has become of the disappeared. States cannot continue to ignore their call for the truth, justice and full and comprehensive reparation”.

At a time when the world has finally devised an international legal instrument that will enable this crime to be combated, FIACAT, ACAT-France and FEMED are running a campaign, in conjunction with the families of the disappeared, to ensure that it is adopted by states. Just one more ratification is needed to enable the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to enter into force [1].

ACAT-France, FEMED and FIACAT are calling on states to take all the necessary steps to ratify and implement this instrument, and hence to :

protect all individuals against enforced disappearance ;
establish the truth concerning the fate of the disappeared by conducting serious and impartial investigations ;
prosecute the perpetrators of this crime and deliver justice to victims and their families ;
bring a definitive end to this practice.

Contacts :

Jean-Etienne de Linares, Action des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture (ACAT-France) : 01 40 40 71 21 ; jeanetienne.linares@acatfrance.fr

Laurie Leandri, Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances (FEMED) :
01 42 05 06 22 ; secretariat.femed@disparitions-euromed.org

Marie-Jo Cocher, Internation Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT) : 01 42 80 01 60 ; mj.cocher@fiacat.org

[1] 20 ratifications are needed.

[Press release] August 30 2009 : Global action against enforced disappearances

NJ et GC — 2009-08-28T10:31:00Z

Sunday August 30th marks the 26th anniversary of the International Day of the Disappeared. On this day human rights organisations and family members of the disappeared from all over the world call on their Parliament to take action for the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

Enforced disappearances have occurred since the late seventies and continue to take place until this very day. What started as a Latin American phenomenon soon spread to other continents.

On August 30 each year the families of the disappeared in all continents commemorate those who have been forcibly taken away.
In more than 20 countries events are expected with the aim to pay respect to disappeared persons as well as to campaign for the new Convention on enforced disappearances.

August 30 is also a venue for families to call to their respective governments to sign and ratify the UN Convention. The UN Convention is very important for the families of the disappeared. The Convention provides for fundamental measures to prevent, investigate and sanction enforced disappearances. It realizes two new human rights, the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance as well as the right for the relatives of the disappeared to know the truth.

The call to sign and ratify the Convention is echoed by many family member organizations and human rights NGOs who have recently united their campaigns for the convention in the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED).

For more information about the campaign activities and the Convention on disappearances, see www.icaed.org

Press contact :
Nathalie Jeannin - n.jeannin@fiacat.org

[Press release] International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances urges Morocco to ratify the Convention on enforced disappearances

NJ et GC — 2009-03-10T15:17:00Z

The International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) —a global network of 40 associations of families of disappeared and human rights organisations calls on Morocco to demonstrate its commitment to international law by ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

In a March 10 letter to the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taïb Fassi-Fihri, the ICAED welcomes the positive attitude of the Moroccan government towards the Convention. The ICAED also congratulated the Moroccan government as one of the first countries to sign the Convention, during the signing ceremony on February 6, 2007 in Paris.

“We are pleased to take notice of repeated confirmation of Moroccan government officials, that there are no further obstacles towards ratification” said Dave Hardy, coordinator of the ICAED. “The ICAED would therefore welcome a specific date for the ratification of the Convention by Morocco.” The letter of the ICAED is part of the global campaign in the month March for ratification of the Convention by Morocco.

So far 81 countries have signed the Convention and 10 countries have ratified. The Convention will enter into force after 20 ratifications. By taking action without hesitation, Morocco would be distinguished among the first countries to ratify the Convention and would therefore be instrumental to its entry into force.

Item 11(b) : Disappearances and summary executions in Africa

NJ et GC — 2003-01-18T10:23:00Z

59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
17 March - 25 April 2003

Written declaration by FIACAT

Item 11(b) of the provisional agenda : Civil and political rights

Disappearances and summary executions in Africa

In view of the persistence, on a large scale, of summary or arbitrary out-of-court executions all over the world, FIACAT is deeply alarmed by the prevailing situation in many African countries and by the many allegations of enforced disappearances it receives.

ACAT Cameroon has for several years denounced the out-of-court executions perpetrated by security forces where no serious inquiry has been carried out and no judicial sentence has been passed.

In 2000-2001 the incidence of out-of-court executions and enforced disappearances increased considerably - chiefly in Douala - with the creation of the Operational Command, a special unit consisting of army and police forces whose task is to put an end to the recrudescence of criminality. Denunciation reports, official complaints, media publicity, diplomatic and international pressure and the like have helped to reduce the number of cases. Despite these appeals from the international community, however, the atrocities are continuing and the climate of impunity is firmly established.

Evidence is hidden or destroyed, and the families of those who have disappeared are dissuaded from complaining to the competent authorities. People are taken away and either shot or asphyxiated (the individual is brutally bound and then his or her face is covered with adhesive tape so that (s)he dies of suffocation). The corpses are sometimes buried immediately in a mass grave by the uniformed men who carried out the execution.

In Côte d'Ivoire, after four months of conflict in which both international human rights law and international humanitarian law have been flouted, the death toll is heavy and terrifying. Many civilians have been massacred : on 5 December 2002, for example, the French army discovered a mass grave near the village of Monoko Zohi. Summary or out-of-court executions have been reported in various locations ; disappearances, random arrests and acts of torture have been inflicted on victims on both sides.

FIACAT renews the appeal it launched on 27 January 2003 for the rapid establishment of an independent international commission to carry out an exhaustive inquiry into the atrocities committed by all warring forces. This commission should have a United Nations mandate and should cover all crimes committed in the past ten years, above all the Yopougon massacres of October 2000, unpunished to this day.

The situation which has prevailed in the Central African Republic since the failed coup d'état of 28 May 2001 against President Ange Félix Patassé is increasingly a cause for concern. The language of arms generates a cycle of violence, and the fate of the population, already condemned to poverty, misery and incarceration, is aggravated still further.

In Kaga-Bandoro, rebels have executed prominent citizens. In the afflicted town of Bossangoa, missionaries have been bound, beaten and tortured. Several summary executions have been perpetrated by Chadian Muslim rebels. Abbé Jean-Claude Kilamong, a priest of Central African nationality, has been assassinated.

FIACAT also wishes to express grave concern about the current political scene in the Republic of the Congo, and above all the appalling situation in which the populations of the Pool region, south of Brazzaville, have found themselves over the past seven months.

Reliable and consistent reports we have received show that military operations carried out in this region by government forces in an attempt to quell Pastor N'Toumi's "ninja" rebel forces are accompanied by atrocities perpetrated against civilians.

Violence, intimidation, lootings and burnings of private homes, arrests at gunpoint, disappearances, sexual crimes against children and women of all ages, abductions and summary executions of any young man suspected of belonging to armed ninja groups are everyday occurrences in the Pool region.

On 18 November 2002 President Sassou N'Guesso asked the ninja rebels to surrender their arms and to give themselves up by using a humanitarian corridor, giving his personal undertaking to guarantee their safety. A week later, army helicopters were continuing to bombard displaced persons near Kinkala, causing many deaths and severe injuries amongst the civilian population.

After their recent Ituri investigation, the United Nations observers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monuc) confirmed the acts of cannibalism perpetrated by members of Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement last November and December as they progressed towards Beni, the fief of Mbusa Nyamwisi's RDC/ML. In one notorious incident, a woman was forced to cook her husband's remains and to eat her own arm. She finally begged to be put out of her misery and was immediately executed.

For years FIACAT has been denouncing the failures of the Togolese authorities to comply with their international obligations concerning the rights of the individual. A joint United Nations/OAU International Commission of Inquiry had concluded that "a situation involving systematic violations of human rights existed in Togo" and recommended to the Togolese authorities that they did everything in their power to find and prosecute the culprits. To this day the victims and their families are still waiting to see their tormentors brought to justice.

At its 76th session in 2002, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed its concern that these events had "not been investigated in a credible manner" and that the national commission of inquiry had "clearly not sought to identify precisely those responsible for the violations drawn to the Government's attention".

The Togolese security forces are continuing their repression with impunity and are known for their excessive use of force against the civilian population, particularly at peaceful demonstrations. On 9 November 2002, for example, a demonstration organised by the opposition as a protest against the premature holding of general elections was broken up with unacceptable violence : one person was killed and several were injured.

People detained or in custody are often beaten, ill-treated and tortured. Deaths have been reported, particularly in the prisons in Kara, Lomé and Dapaong, as a result of ill-treatment, malnutrition or epidemics.

Most of the perpetrators of these crimes are known. Nevertheless, despite repeated condemnations by the international community and sanctions imposed on Togo by its leading partners, including the European Union, the Togolese authorities have never shown the slightest inclination to change their behaviour and comply with their obligations.

In the light of these facts, FIACAT wishes to repeat that any act leading to an enforced disappearance entitles the victim of the act to the protection of the law and causes severe suffering to the victim and his or her family.

Such an act violates the rules of international law, above all those which guarantee each person the right to have his or her legal personality recognised, the right to personal freedom and safety, and the right not to be subjected to torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment. Such an act also violates or gravely endangers the right to life .

No circumstance whatsoever, be it the threat of war, internal political instability or any other exceptional situation, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances or out-of-court executions.

FIACAT stresses yet again that impunity is both one of the underlying causes of enforced disappearances and a major obstacle to the solving of these cases, and that effective measures must be taken to combat the impunity phenomenon .

It therefore urgently requests the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to :

Adopt Resolutions firmly condemning the practices of enforced disappearance and summary or arbitrary out-of-court execution ;
Call upon the governments concerned to conduct immediate, impartial inquiries, whatever the circumstances, every time there is reason to believe that an enforced disappearance or an out-of-court execution has taken place on territory under their jurisdiction - that is, remind them that the suspects must be prosecuted and punished where appropriate ;
Ask those same governments to put an end to the practices of enforced disappearance and summary or arbitrary out-of-court execution, and call on the competent United Nations mechanisms to visit the countries concerned ;
Keep this issue on the agenda for its next session.