Enforced Disappearances: France must do better
TRIAL, in collaboration with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT), ACAT-France and the Collective of Families of Disappeared Persons in Algeria (CFDA) submitted an alternative report on the implementation by France of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
On 11 and 12 April 2013 France will be the first State to be examined by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. This new Committee is responsible for monitoring the proper implementation of the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons against Enforced Disappearance.
On this occasion TRIAL, together with other four human rights NGOs, submitted the first alternative report to the Committee concerning France. This report highlights the weaknesses of the current legislation and practice by French authorities regarding the definition of the crime of enforced disappearance. The report also provides an analysis of the existing measures to prevent, investigate and punish this crime and to provide appropriate redress to victims.
The five organizations suggested specific and concrete recommendations in order for French authorities to adopt measures to guarantee the respect for their obligations under the Convention.
TRIAL will present this report to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances on April 9, 2013.
Context
As a global network of organizations of families of disappeared and NGOs, the International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED) aims at putting an end to the practice of enforced disappearances at the local, national and international levels.
TRIAL is an ICAED member since 2008. The swiss NGO currently represents more than 300 victims of enforced disappearances within more than 100 individual procedures submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the European Court of Human Rights.
