Twenty years protecting people from arbitrary detention

11 November 2011

(Monday 14 November 2011 – 20th Anniversary of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention)

Twenty years protecting people from arbitrary detention

GENEVA / PARIS – Aung San Suu Kyi, Xanana Gusmao, Carmen Julia Arias Iglesias, Manouchehr Karimzadeh, Haitham al-Maleh, Qi Dafeng, Pham Cong Canh – the list of cases investigated by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is long. Some of the names are internationally renowned, others less so, but for two decades this panel of independent experts has followed up on many such cases of individuals from around the world, expressed its opinion on the illegality of their detentions, and helped secure their freedom.

On Monday 14 November, the Working Group will commemorate 20 years of achievements and reflect on the many challenges ahead with a special one-day event in Paris. At the event, a special free-access database will be launched in English, French and Spanish containing over 600 individual Opinions adopted since the Working Group’s establishment in 1991.

“The Working Group has developed extensive jurisprudence on many different forms of deprivation of liberty in the context of international human rights norms and standards,” said El Hadji Malick Sow, who currently heads the expert panel.

“All that and more will be freely available to the victims, legal practitioners, States, national human rights institutions, academics, civil society and journalists through the new database,” he added.

Two former detainees whose cases were investigated by the Working Group will share their experiences at the event in Paris. Haitham al-Maleh is from the Syrian Arab Republic and Birtukan Mideksa from Ethiopia. Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver a video message.

The Paris event will also bring together former Working Group members, including founding members Roberto Garretón and Louis Joinet, academics, Government officials and NGO representatives.

“We look forward to this significant event as an opportunity for dialogue, to collect best practices and to reflect on the important role of the Working Group in combatting the global and disturbing phenomenon of arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” Mr. Sow said.
Other speakers on the day will be experienced jurists and experts on international law from Algeria, Hungary, the United States of America and Venezuela.

The event will be opened by representatives from the Governments of France and Norway, the Human Rights Council, the UN human rights office and the Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme of France. A publication on the outcome of the event is expected for 2012.

ENDS

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