[WCAR] IMADR's report on the Inter-sessional open-ended working group on enforced disappearance

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Please find attached, a report from the first session of the
Inter-sessional open-ended working group to elaborate a draft legally
binding normative instrument for the protection of all persons from
enforced disappearance, which took place in Geneva from January 6 to
17, 2003. The reports was prepared by Selvarani Paneerselvam, an
intern at IMADR- UN Office. It was the first UN meeting which IMADR
monitored in this year.

Throughout history, both in times of war and peace, it often are
persons belonging to 'minorities' in numerical terms or in terms of
(political) power, who become victims of enforced disappearance ­
persons who are arrested, detained or abducted against their will by
Governments or Non-State actors a like, and whose fate unaccounted
for.

'Enforced disappearance' is relatively new concept emerging in the
international law, and despite the increasing attention which has been
paid to the issue since late in 1960s, there exists yet no legally
binding UN instrument specifically addressing enforced disappearance.

The Inter-sessional Working Group, which held its first session in
January 2003, aims to elaborate a legally binding instrument for the
protection of all persons from enforced disappearance around the
world.

IMADR would like to closely follow the process in the interest of
victims and potential victims of enforced disappearance as well as
their families. We would appreciate it very much if you could kindly
disseminate the report as widely as possible.

Please note that the report is by no means meant to serve as an
official records of the actual discussion of the Working Group, and
IMADR does not assume responsibility for any inaccurate summary of a
statement wherever it may exist.

Thank you for your cooperation,

IMADR International Secretariat

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  International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism
(IMADR)
  Address: 3-5-11, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo106-0032, Japan
  Tel: (+81)3-3586-7447  Fax: (+81)3-3586-7462
  Email: imadris@imadr.org  Website: http://www.imadr.org
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Attachment: Enforced Disappearance - final report.doc
Description: MS-Word document