On 20 June, at 12:00, the delegation of UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will hold a news conference at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre (Kyiv, Khreshchatyk Street, 2, Ukrainian house).
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 delegation – comprising Vice-Chair Mr. Tae-Ung Baik, Mr. Henrikas Mickevicius and Mr. Luciano Hazan – will visit Kyiv and other parts of the country. The Working Group will meet State officials, relatives of people who have disappeared, representatives of civil society organizations, relevant UN agencies, and others. A final report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2019.
Access to the news conference is strictly limited to journalists.
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.
For more information and media requests please contact:
In Geneva (before and after the visit): Ugo Cedrangolo (+41 22 917 9286 / ucedrangolo@ohchr.org)
In Kyiv (during the visit): Iryna Yakovlieva (+38 050 386 8069 / Iyakovlieva@ohchr.org)