“Interactive dialogue with: Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the cases it has addressed between May 2019 and May 2020, as well as on its missions to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and follow-up to its mission to Turkey, A/HRC/45/13, A/HRC/45/13/Add.1, A/HRC/45/13/Add.2, A/HRC/45/13/Add.3, A/HRC/45/13/Add.4"

Agenda Item 3: - Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Statement by: International-Lawyers.Org

21 September 2020

Thank you, President, 

We thank the Working Group for its visits to the countries mentioned in the report to help end the legacy of enforced disappearances. We are looking forward to the Working Group´s visit to Iraq.

The Working Group emphasized the issue of standards and public policies for an effective investigation of enforced disappearances; we would like to highlight the absence of such procedures in Iraq.

Since there exists no clear competent authority to deal with cases of enforced disappearances, as the government only acknowledges those before 2003, the visit of the Working Group is urgently needed by the families of victims. We have submitted cases of thousands of enforced disappearances to the Committee and the Working Group, which clearly show that certain ethnic groups, particularly the Sunni Arabs, are targeted. The lack of judicial enquiries and the continuing impunity for cases of enforced disappearances violate the victims’ rights to truth and justice and enables future violations to occur.

Iraq’s repeated failure to respond to the Working Group inquiry, despite receiving a reminder, in addition to its recent failure to appear before the Committee for Enforced Disappearances proves its unwillingness to address these grave violations.

International-Lawyers.Org and Geneva International Centre for Justice, therefore, call on the Working Group to urgently use the open invitation to visit Iraq, pressure the government to fulfil their obligations and develop and implement a comprehensive policy to address the past abuses, including enforced disappearances, which should encompass the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparation.

Thank you.

Justice, Human rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice