UN Experts on Enforced Disappearances to Visit Ukraine

UN Experts on Enforced Disappearances to Visit Ukraine

GENEVA (7 June 2018) – The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will visit Ukraine from 11 to 20 June 2018.

The experts will study measures adopted by the State to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances, including issues related to truth, justice and reparation for victims, and will gather information on relevant cases.

The Working Group will meet State officials, relatives of people who have disappeared, representatives of civil society organizations, relevant UN agencies, and others.

The delegation – comprising Vice-Chair Mr. Tae-Ung Baik, Mr. Henrikas Mickevicius and Mr. Luciano Hazan – will visit Kyiv and other parts of the country.

At the end of the visit, the delegation will hold a news conference on 20 June, at 12:00 local time at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, Khreshchatyk Street, 2 (Ukrainian house), Kyiv. Access to the news conference is strictly limited to journalists.

A final report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2019.

ENDS

The Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances is comprised of five independent experts from all regions around the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Mr. Bernard Duhaime (Canada) and the Vice-Chair is Mr. Tae-Ung Baik (Republic of Korea); other members are Ms Houria Es-Slami (Morocco), Mr. Luciano Hazan (Argentina) and Mr. Henrikas Mickevicius (Lithuania).

The Working Group was established by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It 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 people who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. In view of the Working Group’s humanitarian mandate, clarification occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person is clearly established. The Working Group continues to address cases of disappearances until they are resolved. It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page - Ukraine

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: http://www.standup4humanrights.org.

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