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	Up to one million people in Iraq have disappeared over the past five decades by OHCHR, ICJ, United Nations News Iraq, Syria   Jan. 2025   On 15-16 January, The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) collaborated with the Convention against Enforced Disappearances Initiative (CEDI) and other leading organizations to convene the first World Congress on Enforced Disappearances (WCED).   Although the crime of enforced disappearance remains a widespread practice in several countries, in all regions of the world, accountability for the perpetrators and justice for the victims and their loved ones is still, too frequently, lacking.   The crime of enforced disappearance is a particularly serious human rights violation, in that it is typically composed of multiple component violations, including torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; arbitrary detention; extrajudicial killing. At its heart is a denial of the recognition of a person before the law.   Following decades of mobilization to prevent and eradicate this heinous human rights violation, the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (the Convention) was adopted in 2006 following a concerted effort of States, associations of victims, human rights non-governmental organizations and experts. The ICJ played a leading role in both advocating for the initiation of and in contributing to the drafting process.   Over the past 15 years, the number of States Parties to the Convention has increased from 20 to 76. While this constitutes progress, it is far from enough, and implementation has been incomplete even among States Parties.   Through various legal interventions and advocacy, the ICJ has helped demonstrate that pre-existing international law, while de facto prohibiting enforced disappearances, did not adequately capture the full scope and severity of the crime, and left victims and survivors without access to justice and effective remedies..   http://www.icj.org/world-congress-on-enforced-disappearance-preventing-and-ending-impunity-for-a-global-scourge/ http://www.edworldcongress.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2025/01/global-voices-unite-first-world-congress-enforced-disappearances http://apnews.com/article/south-america-disappearances-human-rights-peru-paraguay-colombia-a9af496773e3157201e05220277d2bdd http://odi.org/en/insights/tens-thousands-people-forcibly-disappeared-syria/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/iici-syria/independent-international-commission http://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance http://srdefenders.org/resource/international-day-of-the-victims-of-enforced-disappearances-2024/   Apr. 2023   Iraq: Rights experts call for new laws to end ‘waves of disappearance’. (UN News)   It is estimated that up to one million people in Iraq have disappeared over the past five decades – a crisis that continues today, UN independent human rights experts said on Tuesday, calling for investigation and legislation to eradicate “this heinous crime.”   The appeal comes in the latest report by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, which visited the country in November.   The report examines five “waves of disappearance” in Iraq, including enforced disappearance. It covers the period starting with the Ba’ath era from 1968-2003 - characterized by the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein - through to the anti-Government protests from 2018 to 2020.   The UN Committee is comprised of 10 international rights experts who monitor global implementation of the Convention against enforced disappearances.   While acknowledging the serious challenges the authorities face in addressing the situation in Iraq, the experts were deeply concerned that enforced disappearance has been widespread over different periods, and that impunity and revictimization prevail.   “The visit constitutes a new step in the Committee’s interaction with Iraq, one of the first countries to ratify the Convention,” they said, adding, “but lots remain to be done.”   The Committee met with senior officials, victims, and civil society representatives in Iraq. Members heard numerous testimonies from victims, including a mother whose son disappeared after being stopped at a checkpoint while going to visit a cousin. Her story was indicative of an ongoing pattern in Iraq, according to the Committee.   Another common pattern concerns the alleged enforced disappearance of children, particularly from the Yazidi minority community, born after their mothers were sexually abused in camps operated by the extremist group ISIL or Da’esh.   The Committee learned that, in some cases, mothers were compelled to leave their children in orphanages after returning to Iraq, intending to take them home as soon as possible.   However, when they went to reclaim them, the mothers were told that their children had been “given” to another family, allegedly with direct involvement of some State agents.   Hundreds of families are also still searching for relatives they suspect are in camps in Türkiye, Syria, or Iran, “where contact with the outside world is impossible”, the Committee said.   The report noted that following decades of conflict and political violence, disappearances - including enforced disappearances - have been identified as “a problem of massive proportions in Iraq.”   Official estimates indicate that since 1968, between 250,000 and 1,000,000 people have been disappeared, though it is impossible to provide more precise figures.   Five ‘waves’   During the Ba’ath era in the Federal Iraq and Kurdistan region, up to 290,000 people, including some 100,000 Kurds, were forcibly disappeared as part of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan, the report said.   The second “wave” of disappearances covers the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation, to the pre-ISIL period. During this time, the United States military and allies captured at least 200,000 Iraqis. Of this number, 96,000 were held at some point in prisons administered by the US or the United Kingdom.   “It is alleged that detainees were arrested without a warrant for their involvement in insurgency operations, while others were ‘civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time’”, the Committee said.   ISIL atrocities   The report documented how ISIL’s proclamation of an Islamic caliphate, including a large swathe of Iraq, saw new rounds of abductions and mass killings of Iraqi soldiers or security forces from 2014 to 2017.   The situation deteriorated further when Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) conducted military operations to retake major cities from the extremists, during which pro-Government forces disappeared thousands of Sunni Arabs, mainly men and boys.   More enforced disappearances occurred during the wave of demonstrations in Iraq from 2018 to 2020, when thousands took to the street to protest against corruption.   The UN Committee urged the Iraqi Government to immediately include enforced disappearances as a separate offence in national legislation as currently it cannot be prosecuted.   Members also called for establishing a comprehensive search and investigation strategy for all cases of disappearances, and they encouraged the authorities to strengthen and enlarge the scope of national forensic investigations.   “Iraq must also immediately establish an independent task force to cross-check systematically the registers of all places of deprivation of liberty with the names of all detainees,” the Committee said. “The task force must ensure that all detainees are registered and that their relatives are duly informed of their whereabouts.”   Iraq should also clarify persistent allegations of secret detention, which the State has denied. In this regard, the authorities should establish an independent commission that would carry out a fact-finding mission to verify whether secret places of detention exist.   The Iraqi authorities were also urged to take legislative and judicial measures to address the needs and rights of victims.   About the UN Committee   The Committee on Enforced Disappearances was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, they are independent experts. While in Iraq, the delegation also observed developments surrounding two exhumations and visited a provisional centre of DNA identification in the northern city of Sinjar, home to the Yazidi community, among other activities.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135342 http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/ced   28 Mar. 2023   UN chief calls for new tool to find 100,000 ‘disappeared’ Syrians. (UN News)   Entering its 13th year of brutal civil war and scrambling to recover from devastating earthquakes in February, Syria and its people “deserve peace” and to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.   “The whereabouts and fate of an estimated 100,000 Syrians remains unknown,” he said. “People in every part of the country and across all divides have loved ones who are missing, including family members who were forcibly disappeared, abducted, tortured, and arbitrarily detained.”   Commending the courageous work of Syrian family, victim, and survivor associations and other civil society groups to chart a path forward, he called on the UN General Assembly to establish a new international institution.   “We must work to resolve this deeply painful situation with determination and urgency,” he said, urging all Member States to act and calling on the Government of Syria and on all parties to the conflict to cooperate.   “It is essential to help Syrians heal and remove an obstacle to securing sustainable peace,” he said. “The international community has a moral obligation to help ease their plight.”   Echoing that call and elaborating on the parameters of such a new mechanism, Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, shared findings of consultations with major stakeholders, from the International Committee of the Red Cross to Syrian associations.   Those consulted, along with a number of Member States, had agreed that a new, dedicated entity should be tasked with streamlining existing efforts.   The mechanism would be centred on victims and survivors, emphasize gender sensitivity, ensure inclusivity, operate without discrimination, and would be guided, in all search activities, by the working presumption that the missing person is alive and in urgent need of help, he said, drawing on stakeholder consultations.   “The crisis of missing persons in Syria is crushing in its enormity,” he said. “The continuing absence of many tens of thousands of people, from small children to elderly men and women, cries out for strong action. This shared pain in neighbourhoods and villages across the country must be addressed. Reconciliation will remain distant without such work.”   Proposing several additional parameters, he said the mechanism must be located where survivors and families feel safe, be fully grounded in human rights, and ensure transparency and adaptability.   “There will be no enduring peace in Syria without progress on these issues that are fundamental to families, communities, and society as a whole,” he said. “Steps in this direction can begin to restore trust between divided communities. We owe the people of Syria no less.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/06/syria-un-experts-urge-general-assembly-address-plight-missing-and-forcibly http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/06/1138202 http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-mr-martin-griffiths-briefing-security-council-humanitarian-situation-syria-29-june-2023 http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1135127 http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/reports/a76890-missing-people-syrian-arab-republic-report-secretary-general http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/30/syria-families-disappeared-deserve-answers http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/11/syria-families-of-disappeared-deserve-answers/ http://bit.ly/438gnPS   More than 110,000 people have disappeared throughout Mexico   The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances condemns the attack on personnel of the State Attorney General's Office and the municipal police of Tlajomulco in the state of Jalisco in central-western Mexico, which killed six people and injured at least 12 others, including government officials and civilians.   According to the information received by the Committee, the attack took place on 11 July when the authorities were on their way to a location in Tlajomulco to search for the bodies of those who had allegedly disappeared. They were ambushed by unidentified assailants with explosive devices.   “The Committee expresses its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and wishes the injured a swift recovery,” said Carmen Rosa Villa, Chair of the Committee.   State authorities reported that more than 110,000 people had disappeared throughout Mexico, with the highest number of disappearances registered in the state of Jalisco. In a report published in 2022 following its visit to Mexico, the Committee urged the State party to guarantee the permanent protection of public servants dedicated to the search and investigation and establish a comprehensive protection programme for them. It also called on Mexico to immediately strengthen the victim protection system to guarantee the safety of family members and those accompanying them.   In light of the recent attack, the Committee recalls that searches and investigations are permanent obligations. It urges the State party to immediately initiate a thorough and diligent investigation to identify the perpetrators and impose sanctions appropriately.   It, once again, calls upon the State party to establish adequate protection measures for victims, family members, accompanying persons, as well as public servants to guarantee the continuity of the search for the disappeared and the investigation of their disappearances, providing opportunities for participation to ensure that victims are not left without support.   The Committee reiterates its recommendation to the State to urgently adopt and implement a National Policy for the Prevention and Eradication of Disappearances.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/07/mexico-un-committee-enforced-disappearances-condemns-violence-against http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/08/mexicos-disappeared-pain-serves-engine-collective-struggle http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mexico-disappearances-cartel-rancho-izaguirre-claudia-sheinbaum-interview-lisa-sanchez/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-committee-enforced-disappearances-clarifies-its-procedure-under-article http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/ced http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/03/mexico-el-estado-debe-investigar-el-hallazgo-de-fosas-clandestinas-en-jalisco-y-tamaulipas/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/04/disappeared-mexicos-industrial-scale-human-rights-crisis/ http://www.omct.org/en/resources/blog/enforced-disappearance-the-families-permanent-suffering-is-torture http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/09/chile-50-years-coup-historical-memory/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/un-experts-study-new-technologies-and-enforced-disappearances-exposes-risks Visit the related web page
	Hate speech is used to stoke fear and division at immense cost to communities and societies by Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination   June 2023   International Day for Countering Hate Speech, message from Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General   Hate speech is used to stoke fear and division, often for political gain, and at immense cost to communities and societies. It incites violence, exacerbates tensions, and impedes efforts to foster mediation and dialogue. It is one of the warning signs of genocide and other atrocity crimes.   Hate speech is often aimed at vulnerable groups, reinforcing discrimination, stigma and marginalization. Minorities, women, refugees, migrants, and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity are frequent targets. Social media platforms can amplify and spread hate speech at lightning speed.   Misguided and ambiguous responses to hate speech – including blanket bans and internet shutdowns – may also violate human rights by restricting freedom of speech and expression. They may even silence some of those best placed to counter hateful narratives: human rights defenders and journalists.   But we are far from powerless in the face of hate speech. We can and must raise awareness about its dangers, and work to prevent and end it in all its forms.   The United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech is our comprehensive framework for tackling the causes and impacts of hate speech, in line with international human rights standards. Our offices and teams around the world are confronting hate speech by implementing local action plans, based on this strategy.   Education initiatives, positive speech campaigns, research to understand and address root causes, and efforts to promote inclusion and equal rights all have an important role. Religious, community and business leaders can all play their part.   The United Nations is consulting governments, technology companies and others on a voluntary Code of Conduct for information integrity on digital platforms, aimed at reducing the spread of mis- and disinformation and hate speech, while protecting freedom of expression.   As we mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, let us renew our efforts to prevent and end this toxic and destructive phenomenon, while promoting inclusive, just and peaceful communities and societies and protecting the rights and dignity of all.   http://www.un.org/en/observances/countering-hate-speech http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/hate-speech-strategy.shtml http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/index.shtml http://news.un.org/en/audio-product/uniting-against-hate http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/06/1137822 http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/09/antisemitism-scourge-our-collective-humanity-high-commissioner http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/06/un-human-rights-chief-hate-speech-has-no-place-our-world http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a74486-report-online-hate-speech   Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect:   Inflammatory rhetoric or hate speech targeting people on the basis of their identity creates an environment conducive for the potential commission of atrocity crimes. Hate speech frequently targets vulnerable and/or marginalized groups, such as ethnic and religious minorities, women, refugees, migrants, and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identities. Such dangerous speech has the potential to influence people to accept, condone or commit violence against targeted groups.   Throughout history hate speech has been a precursor for atrocities in myriad situations, from Rwanda to Bosnia, South Sudan to Myanmar (Burma) and from Ethiopia to Sri Lanka, among others. While in the past dangerous speech has notoriously been spread via print and radio media, as well as in speeches by politicians and other eminent figures, in recent years social media platforms have also been weaponized to spread hate speech and incitement with unprecedented reach and speed.   On 9 June the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed alarm regarding the disappearance of 16 individuals from the Baháʼí faith community and a subsequent sermon by the Houthi Grand Mufti in Sana'a, Yemen, that violently targeted Baháʼís. During the sermon, the Mufti accused the detained people of being traitors and called on militias to unite against the beliefs that Bahá’ís uphold. For several years Baháʼís and members of other religious minorities in Yemen have faced detention, torture and ill-treatment, with some victims being sentenced to death for professing their religion. According to OHCHR, violations against religious or belief minorities in Yemen are exacerbated by hate speech that may amount to incitement to hatred, hostility and discrimination.   The annual commemoration of International Day for Countering Hate Speech builds on the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech launched by Secretary-General Guterres on 18 June 2019. Ahead of this year’s commemoration, on 14 June the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2686, which recognizes that hate speech, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance, gender discrimination and acts of extremism can contribute to conflict. The resolution urges member states to publicly condemn violence, hate speech and extremism and encourages them to prevent the spread of intolerant ideology and incitement to hatred.   Apr. 2023   Tunisia must immediately stop hate speech, UN Committee issues early warning   The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) urged Tunisia’s highest authorities to publicly condemn and distance themselves from racist hate speech by politicians and public and private figures. It also called upon the State party to combat all forms of racial discrimination and racist violence against black Africans, especially migrants from the south of the Sahara and black Tunisian citizens.   In a statement issued today under its early warning and urgent action procedure, the Committee said it was alarmed by the remarks made by Tunisia’s Head of State in late February, alleging that “hordes of illegal migrants” arriving from African countries south of the Sahara were part of “a criminal plan to change the composition of the demographic landscape of Tunisia” and were the source “of violence, unacceptable crimes and practices”.   The Committee found that such remarks were in contravention of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.   Faced with violence following the remarks made by Tunisia’s Head of State, hundreds of migrants from countries such as Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea and Senegal decided to return to their home countries. Many other migrants and refugees from the south of the Sahara were forcibly evicted from their houses or have lost employment. They have thus sought protection and assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).   The number of arbitrary detentions of migrants from south of the Sahara has also significantly increased throughout the country since the beginning of February. Many of them continue to be detained, including in Ouardia’s administrative detention facility, where some migrants have been in detention for more than 18 months.   In this context, the Committee is deeply concerned about reports of an increase of racial or xenophobic hate speech in Tunisia against migrants from African countries south of the Sahara, on social networks and some other media, including racist hate speech by private personalities and political party members, especially after the remarks made by the Head of State.   It is also gravely concerned that this wave of hate speech and stigmatisation has led to acts of violence against these migrants, including physical attacks and evictions from their homes and jobs.   The Committee is alarmed by reports of numerous arbitrary arrests of these migrants, including women, children and students, carried out by law enforcement officials in the campaign entitled “Strengthening the security fabric and reducing the phenomenon of illegal stay in Tunisia”, without all the procedural guarantees.   It urged the Tunisian authorities to refrain from making remarks contributing to racial hatred and racial discrimination against migrants from countries south of the Sahara and to proactively condemn anyone who did so.   The Committee requested that Tunisia immediately halt the arrests and collective detentions of these migrants, release those who are arbitrarily detained, especially women and children, and allow those who choose to apply for asylum to do so.   It also asked Tunisia to investigate cases of migrants being arbitrarily removed from their jobs or homes and take other measures to prevent and combat all forms of racial discrimination.   CERD’s early warning and urgent action procedure primarily aims to consider situations that might escalate into conflicts in order to take appropriate preventive actions to avoid full-scale violations of human rights under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/04/tunisia-must-immediately-stop-hate-speech-and-violence-against-migrants http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135347 http://globalvoices.org/2023/07/20/deconstructing-the-politics-behind-mistreatment-of-migrants-from-africa-in-tunisia/ http://mediawell.ssrc.org/articles/theyre-coming-to-take-over-our-country-researching-global-circuits-of-racist-misinformation/ Visit the related web page
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