UN experts call for action to stop enforced disappearances

US urged to take 'firm stand' against India to halt Kashmiri people's rights abuses

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22 (APP): A group of UN human rights experts has called on the international community to strengthen cooperation to enable timely and effective investigations and prosecutions of those behind enforced disappearances, raising concerns about the multiplying effect of impunity.

Impunity is a distinctive trait of most enforced disappearances, and it has a multiplying effect, generating additional suffering and anguish for the victims and their families, Luciano Hazan, chairman of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances*, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The international community should not be neutral in the face of such suffering, but rather strengthen cooperation efforts, increase the assistance available to victims, and pursue judicial investigations and prosecutions both at the local and international levels.

On behalf of the five-member team, Hazan presented a thematic reporton the standards and public policies needed for effective investigation of these cases.

States must also guarantee the autonomy and independence of the authorities charged with the criminal investigation and prosecution, including of the judicial authorities, he said.

Hazan added that the coronavirus pandemic has affected enforced disappearances, not only creating new contexts in which these may occur, but also affecting how States respond to them.

The measures adopted to fight against the pandemic such as confinement or the re-deployment of security forces to control their implementation, obviously have affected the capacity of all actors to conduct search and investigation of enforced disappearances, he said.

In this respect, Hazan referred to eight Key Guidelines on COVID – 19 and Enforced Disappearances,, issued last week by the Working Group, jointly with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. These guidelines aim to assist and guide member States in adhering to their international obligations related to enforced disappearance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

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