International Day of the Victims of Enforced Diseappearances:Statements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson

(Paris, August 30, 2012)

PR-17/12

"On the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, France would like to underscore the seriousness of this scourge which is currently still far too widespread.

Human Rights Ambassador, François Zimeray, will attend the event that has notably been organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Federation against Enforced Disappearances structured around an exhibition of photographs and the screening of several short films.

France actively pursues the work that it began more than 30 years ago already to effectively ban all secret places of detention, the practice of detention outside the legal framework, and to effectively implement the right to truth and compensation for victims and their families.

It welcomes the establishment of and the work already started by the new Committee on Enforced Disappearances, tasked with ensuring the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which entered into force on December 23, 2010, and the universal ratification of which France is calling for.

This Convention, signed by 91 States, 34 of which have ratified it, is a key tool in the fight against impunity and the protection of missing persons and their families and strengthens the guarantees of the rule of law.

France urges the entire international community to strive to put an end to enforced disappearances."