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What is Enforced Disappearance?
What does the United Nations (UN) do about Enforced
Disappearances?
What is the 1992 UN Declaration for the Protection of
All Persons from Enforced Disappearance?
What is the UN Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance?
What does the Convention mainly state about the issue
of enforced disappearance
Why is there a need for a Convention?
What will be the functions of the Committee on
Enforced Disappearances which is to be established by
the Convention?
What is the Convention’s Importance to the Peoples of
Asia?
Why is it important for States to ratify the
Convention
and to ensure its immediate entry into force?
What is the practical importance of the Convention for
the victims and their families?
How can we lobby governments to recognize the
importance of the instrument by signing and ratifying
the Convention?
What is the International Coalition Against Enforced
Disappearance (ICAED)?
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INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL
PERSONS FROM
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE
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Respect the Right NOT to be DISAPPEARED!
A Primer on the United Nations Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
What will be the functions of the Committee on
Enforced Disappearances which is to be established by the Convention?
One of the most important achievements of the Convention will be the
establishment of a new ten-member Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
Once the Convention enters into force, the Committee will be set up and
will carry out the following functions:
a. Receive, consider and issue comments, observations and recommendations
on State reports on the measures taken to give effect to obligations
established under the Convention within two years after its entry into
force.
b. Request a State Party to provide the Committee with information on the
situation of a person reported disappeared (relatives of a disappeared may
submit to the Committee requests to search for their loved ones) within a
time limit set by the Committee itself. In the light of the response
provided for by the State Party concerned, the Committee shall transmit a
recommendation to the respective State and inform the person who filed the
request regarding the process. The Committee may also request the State to
take appropriate actions, including the adoption of interim measures, and
to report it to its members. Finally, the Committee shall continue its
efforts to work with the State concerned as long as the fate and
whereabouts of the disappeared person remains unresolved.
c. Request one or more of the members of the Committee, (if it is
considered that a visit to the territory of a State Party is necessary to
discharge the mandate) to undertake, upon the agreement of the State
concerned, a visit and report back its findings and recommendations to the
Committee without delay.
d. Receive and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals
who claim to be victims of a violation of the provisions of the
Convention. In this view, a State Party may, at the time of ratification
or at any time afterwards, declare that it recognizes such a competence.
Important Note: If a State does not expressly accept this competence, the
Committee may not receive any individual communication). It is worth -
noting that, among the 15 States that have ratified the Convention to
date, only 4 have declared to accept the competence of the Committee to
receive and consider individual complaints. At present, no Asian State has
done so.
e. Upon declaration of recognition of competence by the State Parties
concerned, the Committee shall receive and consider communications to the
effect that a State Party claims that another State Party is not
fulfilling its obligations under the Convention.
f. Urgently bring a matter (when it receives information which appears to
contain well-founded indications that enforced disappearance is being
practiced on a widespread or systematic basis in the territory of a State
Party) to the attention of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
through the UN Secretary-General.
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