The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued the following statement today:

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is holding its seventy-fifth session from 26 May to 3 June, in Bangkok, Thailand to look at cases of disappearances from around the world.

The Working Group is meeting for the first time in Asia, at the offices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific. Previous sessions have been held in Geneva, New York and Latin America. At this session, the Working Group has looked at more than 1,000 cases from 28 countries, including Algeria, Belarus, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, India, Iran, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen. The Working Group has also held meetings with concerned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Governments. Further, it participated in a training and interactive dialogue with NGOs from across the region organized by the NGO, "Forum Asia".

The Working Group decided to hold the seventy-fifth session in Asia to reflect the fact that an increasing number of cases of enforced disappearance have recently been submitted to it from the region In addition to reviewing cases, the Working Group discussed substantive questions of concern, including consideration of issues associated with laws on amnesties and impunity for the act of enforced disappearance, as well as a worldwide study it is conducting on laws and their implementation in relation to enforced disappearance. The Working Group considered developments in Nepal, a country it visited in December 2004, and discussed its up-coming visit to Colombia, scheduled for July 2005. Other possible future missions were reviewed.

The Working Group was created by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives who, having,. The Working Group endeavours to establish a channel of communication between the families and the Governments concerned, to ensure that individual cases are investigated with the objective of clarifying the whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. In view of its humanitarian mandate, clarification occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person is clearly established. The Working Group continues working on cases of disappearance until such time as they are clarified. It currently has more than 40,000 cases actively under review, from sixty countries.

The Working Group is made up of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chairman-Rapporteur is Stephen J. Toope, the Vice-Chairman is J. Bayo Adekanye, and the other Expert-Members are Darko Gottlicher, Saied Rajaie Khorasani and Santiago Corcuera.

As defined in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance ("Declaration"), adopted by the General Assembly in 1992, enforced disappearances occur when persons are deprived of their liberty by State officials or by persons acting on behalf of, or with the support, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned, which places such persons outside the protection of the law. The Working Group is mandated by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to assist in the implementation of the Declaration and relevant international rules.

The Working Group is grateful for the kind hospitality of the Government of Thailand, as the host country to the United Nations regional office for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific, and to the Regional Representative for Asia-Pacific of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and her staff, for their support in the holding of the seventy-fifth session of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.