Prioritise search for disappeared

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances yesterday called on all states to prioritise search for the disappeared, recognising it first and determining the exact extent by gathering reliable records.

Many governments have "more information on the number of mobile phones there than on the number of disappeared persons," explained the group's chair, Ariel Dulitzky, in a presentation of its annual report at the human rights council this week.

"One person is probably being disappeared in one of your countries as we are talking," he said, says a UN press release from Geneva yesterday.

"The time for words and promises is over. It is now the time for action on behalf of relatives to support their fight for truth, justice, reparation and memory," he observed.

He said the group continues to daily receive new cases of enforced disappearances.

Ariel Dulitzky talked of 64 reported cases of enforced disappearances in the last few months concerning China, Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, Syrian Arab Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

He also spoke on 381 cases, including newly-reported ones, and updated information on previously accepted ones.

The other countries involved include Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chile, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, France, Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

The group also focused on specific country situations and announced visiting Sri Lanka from November 9 to 18.