Interactive Dialogue, Working Group on Enforced Disappearances
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
Human Rights Council – 48th Session
As Delivered by Mr. Jesse Lynch
This year, on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Secretary Blinken said: “Every year, friends and family members vanish after being arrested, detained, or abducted by government officials or those working in concert with them or with their tacit consent. Those responsible refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or conceal the victims’ fates and whereabouts.”
The United States condemns all enforced disappearances and calls on governments to conduct transparent and independent investigations of all cases, hold those responsible to account, help clarify what happened to victims, and where possible, facilitate their return.
The victims of enforced disappearances are often human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and others who try to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression.
Question: How can the international community hold accountable those responsible for enforced disappearances and better protect human rights defenders, activists, journalists and others exercising their fundamental freedoms?