Two members from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances* will visit Spain Sept. 23-30 to examine the measures taken by Spain on issues related to the prevention and eradication of enforced or involuntary disappearances. The experts will analyze issues related to truth, justice, reparation and memory for victims of enforced disappearances.
The visit will be conducted by two members of the Working Group, Jasminka Dzumhur and Ariel Dulitzky, who will be accompanied by staff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Dulitzky is a clinical professor at The University of Texas School of Law and director of the school’s Human Rights Clinic.
The Working Group will visit Madrid and the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Andalucía and the Basque Country. In Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Vitoria, the experts will meet with authorities and officials from the State and the Autonomous Communities, relatives of disappeared persons, representatives of civil society organizations, lawyers and academics. The Working Group will also visit memorial sites.
At the end of the visit (on Sept. 30), the Working Group will hold a press conference in Madrid, and a final report will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2014.
(*) The Working Group is comprised of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Olivier de Frouville (France) and the Vice-Chair is Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon). The other members are Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina), Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Jeremy Sarkin (South Africa).