Ambassador Paul Folmsbee
Senior Area Advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs
New York, New York
October 18, 2021
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Chair-Rapporteur Hazan, for your Working Group’s efforts to bring to light instances of enforced disappearances around the world.
The United States stands in solidarity with the victims of this egregious crime. We urge all Member States to protect the rights of detained individuals, to disclose the whereabouts of disappeared persons when this information is known, and to investigate cases vigorously and transparently when the information is not yet known. Victims and their families should always be provided an effective remedy, and we urge Member States to combat impunity for this crime.
We commend the Working Group’s continued focus and fight against enforced disappearances as a means of political repression in situations of internal conflict. Human rights defenders, political activists, environmental defenders, and journalists are all too often the targets of this form of retaliation.
Question: How can Member States improve their capacity to respond quickly and transparently to reports of enforced disappearances?
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