Islamabad, Pakistan (BBN)- The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on Thursday welcomed “the declared will of the Government of Pakistan to tackle the issue of enforced disappearances,” but noted that “serious challenges remain.”
“We acknowledge the security challenges faced by Pakistan” said the independent experts at the end of their official visit to the country. “However, according to the 1992 Declaration for the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced Disappearances, ‘no circumstances whatsoever, whether a threat of war, a state of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked to justify enforced disappearances.’”
“There is acknowledgement that enforced disappearances have occurred and still occur in the country. We note that cases continue to be reported to the national authorities. But there are controversies both on the figures and on the nature of the practice of enforced disappearances,” they observed.
The experts welcomed the role played by the judiciary to shed light on the phenomenon of enforced disappearances in Pakistan and to trace missing persons. “The relatives of the disappeared persons have the right to know the truth about the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones”, they stressed.
However, they expressed their concern that relatives of victims reported that even when clearly identified by witnesses, so far perpetrators have not been prosecuted and convicted. “It is the responsibility and the duty of the State to thoroughly investigate all allegations of enforced disappearances and bring the perpetrators to justice,” they recalled.
The experts underlined the need to reinforce the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, as well as to ensure the oversight and the accountability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and to provide protection for victims and witnesses, a press statement said.
Olivier de Frouville and Osman el Hajjé, two of the five members of the Working Group, visited Pakistan from 10 to 20 September 2012, and held meetings with State authorities, civil society organizations and relatives of disappeared persons in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.
The analysis of the information received during and prior to the visit will be considered in the preparation of the report which will be presented to the Human Rights Council at a session in 2013, it noted.
BBN/SSR/AD-20Sept12-11:40 pm (BST)
