54th Session UNHRC: Intervention by Ms. Michela Mutovciev (Research Analyst EFSAS) on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
19-09-2023, Geneva
Text and video of Ms. Michela Mutovciev's Intervention on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (Item 3: Interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) during the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Video of Ms. Michela Mutovciev's Intervention on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances during the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
"Madam President,
Our organization would like to express its appreciation for your commitment to the plight of the people of Pakistan, who continue to live under the rule of a Military Establishment operating with impunity.
Particularly concerning is its attitude towards all forms of opposition and dissent, targeting human rights advocates, political activists, and journalists, through the practice of forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, abductions and torture as part of State policy.
Although this UN Working Group has examined 800 cases in Pakistan, the country’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has registered more than 8,000, while Pashtun and Baloch groups claim these to be in tens of thousands.
This modus operandi has seemingly evolved and even the killing of Pakistani dissidents abroad is not an exception anymore. Sajid Hussain in Sweden, Karima Baloch in Canada, Arshad Sharif in Kenya and the failed attempt to murder a Netherlands-based Pakistani blogger are cases in point.
Madam President,
The Pakistani people live in an environment of extreme fear, which the Military Establishment continues to reinforce.
The urgent intervention of this Council is crucial to push Pakistan towards the imposition of the rule of law and the democratisation of society, guaranteeing an end to enforced disappearances inside and outside the country and the ultimate respect for human rights.
Thank you".
