Wednesday, June 1, 2011

New Committee on Disappearances elected

Congratulations to the new members of the Committee on Disappearances, elected yesterday (May 31st) in the first state parties meeting under the Convention on Enforced Disappearances that went into effect last December.

The new members of the Committee are:

Name

Nationality

Term expires

Mr. Mohammed AL-OBAIDI

Iraq

2013

Mr. Mamadou Badio CAMARA

Senegal

2015

Mr. Emmanuel DECAUX

France

2015

Mr. Alvaro GARCÉ GARCÍA Y SANTOS

Uruguay

2015

Mr. Luciano HAZAN

Argentina

2013

Mr. Rainer HUHLE

Germany

2013

Ms. Suela JANINA

Albania

2015

Mr. Juan José LÓPEZ ORTEGA

Spain

2015

Mr. Enoch MULEMBE

Zambia

2013

Mr. Kimio YAKUSHIJI

Japan

2013

More information can be accessed at the OHCHR website. The Committee will now schedule its first organizational meeting later in the year. I have not yet seen any information on when this meeting might occur.

The Committee represents the 11th treaty body now in the UN human rights system. As noted in the excerpt from the treaty included above, it will look into cases of enforced or arbitrary disappearances arising after the effective date of the Convention.