The work of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances - Achievements and jurisprudence ten years after the entry into force of the Convention.

 

No disappeared person’s fate shall remain unresolved, No national law shall stay insufficient, and No perpetrator shall go unpunished.

On 23 December 2020, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances, adopted during the sixty-first session of the General Assembly. In these ten years, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances has been working on a daily basis to support States Parties, victims, civil society organizations and national human rights institutions in the eradication and prevention of enforced disappearance. Throughout these years, the Committee has progressively construct - ed its jurisprudence in the context of the examination of states’ initial and follow-up reports, as well as reports containing additional information. It has also established its jurisprudence addressing urgent action requests and individual complaints. Lots remains to be done. However, it is time to take stock of what has been achieved and to raise awareness about the work of the Committee. The present publication takes a picture of the Committee’s jurisprudence as it stands today. It highlights the main issues addressed by the Convention and shows the evolution of recommendations that have been adopted. It draws up the balance of the positions adopted by the Committee, always with the aim of supporting States Parties, victims, civil society actors, national human rights institutions and all actors for what must be a priority for us all: Eradicate and prevent enforced disappearances in all parts of the world. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said recently at a joint public event of the Committee and the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, “Promises and good intentions are indeed not enough to this end. It is urgent that all States ratify the Convention; as well as consider the relevant declarations to enable the Committee to examine individual complaints and in - terstate communications. We know that the Convention stems in great part from the terrible practices of the dictatorships in Latin America in the seventies and eighties. It is however a mistake to consider it as a tool relevant only in relation to past crimes and to limited regions of the world; indeed, enforced disappearance is a worldwide scourge.”