UN asks China to account for whereabouts of 300 detained monks of Kirti Monastery[Thursday, 9 June 2011, 2:41 p.m.]
UN expert body seriously concerned about Tibetan monks reportedly subjected to enforced disappearanceGENEVA:
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances on Wednesday voiced its serious concern and urged the
Chinese authorities to disclose the fate and whereabouts of all those
who have been subject to enforced disappearances in China, including
group of Tibetan monks whose fate or whereabouts still remain unknown.On
21 April 2011, more than 300 monks of the Kirti Monastery, located in
Ngaba County, Sichuan Province, were allegedly arrested and taken to
unknown destinations in ten military trucks. The arrests were
reportedly carried out by agents from the People’s Armed Police, the
Public Security Bureau and the People’s Liberation Army.”We
call on the authorities to provide full information on the fate and the
whereabouts of the persons who have disappeared,” said the Working
Group, noting that it is reported that some of the monks have been
released. “We encourage the authorities to undertake full
investigations into the on-going practice of enforced disappearances
and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted and receive sentences
appropriate to the gravity of the crime.””Enforced
disappearance is a terrible practice that must not be permitted to
occur anywhere and no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be
invoked to justify an enforced disappearance,” the Working Group
stressed. “Family members should be promptly informed on the fate and
whereabouts of people reportedly disappeared. Those who have suffered
the fate of being subject to an enforced disappearance should be
provided with integral reparations.”The expert body reiterated
that “China has an obligation to abide by the strictest standards in
the field of human rights. It also should fully cooperate with the UN
special procedures and in particular with the Working Group.”The
Working Group also called on China to fulfill its promise to ratify the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from
Enforced Disappearance and accept the competence of the Committee on
Enforced Disappearances to receive and consider communications from or
on behalf of individuals, as stated in the Convention.The
Working Group is comprised of five independent experts from all regions
of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Mr Jeremy Sarkin (South Africa)
and the other members are Mr Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina), Ms Jasminka
Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mr Osman El-Hajjé (Lebanon) and Mr
Olivier de Frouville (France).The Working Group was established
by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist
families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared
relatives. It endeavours to establish a channel of communication
between the families and the Governments concerned, to ensure that
individual cases are investigated, with the objective of clarifying the
whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the
protection of the law. In view of the Working Group’s humanitarian
mandate, clarification occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the
disappeared person is clearly established.The Working Group
continues to address cases of disappearances until they are resolved.
It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the
United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance.
