Meeting of the States Parties
First Meeting
New York, 31 May 2011
Item 6 (a) of the provisional agenda
Establishment of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances:
e l ection of the members of the Committee under article 26 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
Election of the 10 members of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances
Note by the Secretary-General *
1.The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance entered into force on 23 December 2010. The first Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention is scheduled to convene at the United Nations Headquarters, for the purpose of electing of the 10 members of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances from a list of persons nominated by States parties from among their nationals, in accordance with article 26 of the Convention.
2.In accordance with article 26, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Secretary-General, in a note verbale dated 7 January 2011, invited the States parties to submit their nominations for the election of the 10 members of the Committee by 7 April 2011. Listed below in alphabetical order are the nominees received by 7 April, with the State party which nominated the candidate (indicated in parenthesis):
Mohammed Al-Obaidi (Iraq)
Emmanuel Decaux (France)
Alvaro Garcé García y Santos (Uruguay)
Luciano Hazan (Argentina)
Rainer Huhle (Germany)
Suela Janina (Albania)
Kimio Yakushiji (Japan)
3.The biographical data of the nominees, as provided by the State party concerned, are contained in the annex.
Annex
Biographical data of the nominees
Mohammed Al-Obaidi (Iraq)
Date and place of birth: 28 November 1971, Baghdad, Iraq
Working languages: Arabic
Current position/function
I am working as an assistant Director General – Directorate, at Directorate of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Human Rights in Iraq. My functions: providing legal assistance in National and International Legislations, following up implementation of the Iraq international obligations, and trainer in International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law and in Legal Awareness.
Main professional activities
Participated in Human Rights Commission sessions 60 and 61 in 2004 and 2005, Human Rights Council sessions 2006, 2009, 2011 in Geneva, participated in Commission of Legal Experts in General Security of Arab League in Cairo, participate in preparing of the draft of local human rights law in Iraq and I am a member in Treaty Reports Writing of Iraqi Reports (see below).
I have experience in fields of Public Service and Administration, dispute settlement in the application of the law, legal drafting and interpretation of laws, international law in general and the international law of human rights and international humanitarian law in particular.
Educational background
Human Rights Diploma from Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and IHL – School of Law – Lund University in Sweden 2007
PhD in International Law 2005, College of Law, Al-Nahrin University – Baghdad – Iraq
Master in International Law 1997, College of Law, Al-Nahrin University – Baghdad – Iraq
BA in Law 1993 College of Law, Al-Nahrin University – Baghdad – Iraq
Other main activities in the field relevant to the manda te of the treaty body concerned
I am a member of the Iraqi Treaty Report Writing team to write the Iraq report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, participate in writing the International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights report of Iraq.
List of most r ecent publications in the field
A study in the field of human persons with disabilities – Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.
Study in the system of individual complaints against human rights violations.
Study in the private security companies and their impact on the full enjoyment of human rights.
Study in trafficking in human beings as the most heinous crime in human rights.
Emmanuel Decaux (France)
Date and place of birth: 9 December 1947, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Working languages: French and English
Current position/function
Professor of public law at the University of Panthéon-Assas Paris II, director of the Centre for Research into Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (CRDH)
Professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies
Vice-president of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH)
Member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee of the United Nations
Main professional activities
Member of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (2002–2006)
Rapporteur on the administration of justice through military tribunals (2002–2005)
Member of the Working Group on Communications (2004–2005 and 2007–2011)
Rapporteur of the drafting group on human rights education and training
Educational background
Graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies
Doctor of public law, University of Paris II
Qualified teacher (agrégé) of public law
List of most recent publications in the field
Droit international public (International public law), Dalloz, 7th ed., Paris, 2010.
Le Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques (The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) (ed.), Economica, Paris, 2010.
La Convention pour la protection de toutes les personnes contre les disparitions forcées (The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance) (ed., with Olivier de Frouville), Bruylant, Brussels, 2009.
Les grands textes internationaux des droits de l’homme (The core international human rights instruments), La Documentation fr., Paris, 2008.
Alvaro Garcé García y Santos (Uruguay)
Place and date of birth: Montevideo, Uruguay, 7 August 1967
Working languages: Spanish, French and English
Present duties and post
(Ombudsman) for the Penitentiary System. Elected by unanimous vote of the Legislative Power in 2005 for the period 2005–2010. Re-elected by unanimous vote in 2010 for the period 2010–2015. He supervises the administrative bodies in charge of the execution of penalties depriving liberty and he advises the Legislative Power in its duty of controlling the fulfilment of the rights of the people deprived of liberty by judicial decision.
Main professional activities
Lawyer, specialized in Human Rights and Criminal Law. He has been a journalist, has taken part in legal offices of first level in his country and afterwards he has decided to act as legal counsel officially appointed. Since he graduated professionally he works as a college professor in Human Rights, Law History and Compared Law. As a professor, he participates in the training of police and jails staff, at the subordinate and hierarchy levels. As an ombudsman, he supervises the enjoyment of human rights in all the prisons of the whole country. He visits the same regularly, interviewing the people deprived of liberty and their relatives; he receives complaints and claims, making the corresponding investigations. He makes recommendations to the prison authorities so as to adopt measures to promote human rights and so as to modify or annul the resolutions and practices which may violate the guarantees of the people submitted to criminal process. He regularly informs the Parliament the state of the prisons and he proposes general recommendations for the improvement of the penitentiary system.
Academic degrees
Lawyer, graduated from the University of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. He is a degree and postgraduate college professor in his country. He is a teacher in schools for police training. He is the author of 20 publications on subjects related to his specialization (books, cooperation books and doctrine articles). He has participated in more than 100 academic events, in his country and abroad, as a lecturer and speaker. He was declared as “Distinguished Visitor” abroad.
Other activities in the field related to the corresponding body
He is a member of the Board of the Ombudsman Latin-American Institute. He receives and answers consultations of the jails authorities on prison practices. He interacts with the Magistrates of the Judicial Power and of the State Attorney’s Office, in the definition and execution of criminal politics. He coordinates actions to promote human rights with other State bodies and civil society. Since 2008, he has actively joined the world campaign for the codification of the human right to peace, developing actions in his country and abroad.
Most recent publications
“Criminal politics as an element of human right to peace”, in “Studies on Human Right to peace”, Edit. Cataratas, Madrid, 2010, pages 226 to 249; “Main aspects of jails reality”, C.I.E.J., Montevideo, 2009, pages 96 to 106; “Jails in Uruguay: Report of the Ombudsman of the Legislative Power. Year 2009”, Legislative Power, Montevideo, 2009, 147 pages; Prelude to “Reform of the Criminal and Penitentiary System in Uruguay”, CADAL, Montevideo, 2009; “Jails Reform”, C.I.E.J., Montevideo, 2008, pages 34 to 41; “Jails in Uruguay: Report of the Ombudsman of the Legislative Power. Year 2008”, Legislative Power, Montevideo, 2008, 343 pages; “From ‘Justitiekansler’ to the Principles of Paris: Compared View of the National Institutions of Human Rights”, CLAEH, Montevideo, 2007, pages 9 to 56.
Luciano Hazan (Argentina)
Date and place of birth: 21 June 1977, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Working languages: Spanish (mother tongue), English
Current position/function
Lawyer at Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo Association (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo), since 2003, Human Rights NGO that works to find the 500 children who were victims of Enforced Disappearance.
Legal counsel at the Secretary of Justice (Ministry of Justice and Human Rights), regarding matters of criminal procedure reform, since 2010.
Member of the Faculty, University of Buenos Aires School of Law, Criminal Law and Criminology Department, since 2002.
Main professional activities
Legal intern at American Civil Liberties Union-Southern California (ACLU-SC), May-July 2010.
Legal counsel at the Human Rights Commission of the House of representatives, Argentina, 2005–2009.
Lawyer at Active Memory Association (Asociación Memoria Activa), a relative’s association of the victims of the terrorist attack against AMIA (social mutual of the Jewish community in Argentina), 2007–2009. Working in the case related to the cover up of the crime.
Assistant director at Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP), an NGO that fights for a structural reform on criminal justice system in Latin America.
Expert consultant at the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA), Organization of American States (OAS).
Editor at Judicial System Journal. Published by the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA).
Educational background
Master in Law (LLM), Southwestern University Law School, 2010. Fulbright-Siderman Scholar. Legal intern at the Los Angeles District Attorney, Justice System Integrity Division.
Lawyer degree with a major in criminal law. Graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School of Law, Argentina, 2003.
Journalist. Graduated from TEA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1998.
Other main activities in the field
Graduated from the Inter-American Program for Training Trainers for Criminal Procedure Reform, organized by Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA), 2005 (April-October).
Graduated from the Training Course in Inter-American and the Universal Human Rights Protection Systems. Organized in Washington DC by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, American University and the International Service for Human Rights, 2005.
List of most recent publications
“Desafíos para la Investigación y Persecución Penal de los Delitos Complejos en Argentina” (Challenges in the investigation and prosecution of complex crimes in Argentina), (Including Crimes Against Humanity). Publisher: JSCA, Santiago de Chile, 2011.
“Informe evaluativo del Plan piloto para el fortalecimiento del sistema acusatorio en la Provincia de Buenos Aires” (Evaluative report of the Plan to strengthen the accusatory system in Buenos Aires Province). Published in Reformas procesales penales en América latina: Resultados del proyecto de seguimiento, IV etapa, Coordinator: Cristian Riego. Publisher: JSCA, Santiago de Chile, 2007.
Book co-editor, “Garantías constitucionales en la investigación penal. Un estudio crítico de la jurisprudencia” (Criminal Investigation and Constitutional Rights. A Critical Case Law). Publisher: Editores Del Puerto, Buenos Aires, 2006.
“El plan piloto para la profundización del sistema acusatorio en Mar del Plata. Descripción, resultados y reflexiones” (The implementation of the accusatory system in Mar del Plata. Description, results and reflections), Nueva Doctrina Penal Journal, 2006-A. Publisher: Editores del Puerto, 2006.
“Los análisis genéticos después el fallo ‘Vázquez Ferrá’ de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación” (Genetic tests after the Supreme Court sentence on “Vázquez Ferrá” case), Published in Derecho a la identidad y persecución de crímenes de lesa humanidad. Publisher: Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo Association, Buenos Aires, 2005.
Introduction to the book Violaciones a los derechos humanos frente a los derechos a la verdad e identidad (Human Rights violations and the rights to truth and identity), 3º Coloquio Interdisciplinario de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo Association, Buenos Aires, 2005.
Rainer Huhle (Germany)
Born: 27 February 1946 in Regensburg, Germany
Working languages
German (mother tongue)
Spanish (fluent in reading, speaking and writing)
English (fluent in reading, speaking and writing)
French (fluent in reading)
Current position
Retired (March 2011) from employment with City Council of Nuremberg/Germany (department of Human Rights Education).
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees at German Institute for Human Rights.
Member of Board of Directors of Nuremberg Human Rights Centre (NMRZ).
Main professional activities
City of Nuremberg: Researcher und developer of Human Rights Education Program (since 1990).
OHCHR: Founding expert team member of OHCHR office in Colombia (1997–1999).
Servicio Paz y Justicia/German Protestant Churches Development Service: Human Rights Expert in Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile (1986–1988).
Numerous freelance activities in the field of human rights expertise, programme evaluation and research.
Educational background
PhD in Political Science at University of Erlangen/Nuremberg (1978).
Studies in Political Science, Sociology, Romanistic and American Studies at Universities of Erlangen/Nuremberg, Vienna and Amherst College (Massachusetts).
Other relevant activities
Founding member (1989) and presently still Board member of Nuremberg Human Rights Centre; co-editor of the Centre’s website www.menschenrechte.org.
Member of editorial council of “Deutsche Zeitschrift für Menschenrechte” (German Human Rights Review).
Recent publications
(Ed.) Human Rights and History – A Challenge for Education, Berlin 2010.
“Coming to Terms with ‘Crimes Against Humanity’: Nuremberg and Beyond”, in: Rainer Huhle (ed.): Human Rights and History – A Challenge for Education, Berlin 2010, pp. 62–81.
“Die politische Sprengkraft des Unpolitischen. Die Menschenrechtsbewegung verändert das politische Gesicht Lateinamerikas”, in: Jürgen Mittag/Georg Ismar (Hrsg.): Soziale Bewegungen und politischer Protest in der Geschichte Lateinamerikas, Münster 2009, pp. 405–432.
“Wie weit geht die Meinungsfreiheit? Ein Rückblick aus Anlass des 60-jährigen Bestehens der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte”, in: zfmr 2/2008, pp. 132–145 (2009).
“América Latina y la fundamentación del sistema internacional de protección de los derechos humanos después de la segunda guerra mundial”, in: Memoria. Revista del Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Pontificia Universidad Católica, Lima, No. 4, 2008, S. 33–43.
(Ed.): From Nuremberg to The Hague, booklet and itinerary exposition on behalf of the German Ministry of Foreign Relations, Nuremberg 2007.
Suela Janina (Albania)
Date and place of birth: 28 June 1976
Working languages: English
Current position/function
Legal expert at International Law Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania
Diplomatic rank; First Secretary
Lecturer of International Public Law, Faculty of Law, Tirana
Main professional activities
Organizes the activities of the MFA in the field of public international law.
Carries out research and prepares comparative analyses and studies on specific aspects of public international law.
Prepares State party reports of the Republic of Albania for the international conventions.
Teaches courses on international law, international organizations and international human rights law.
Educational background
PhD candidate on international human rights law. Faculty of Law, University of Tirana.
Master Degree on Democracy and Human Rights-Diploma issued by the University of Bologna (Italy) and Sarajevo (BH).
Diploma of Lawyer, Faculty of Law, University of Tirana.
Other main activities in the field relevant to the mandate of the treaty body concerned
Negotiator of the MFA for bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Expert in the working groups for drafting different laws in the Republic of Albania.
Representative of the MFA before Constitutional Court for the compatibility of the internal laws with international human rights conventions.
Participation and contribution to the civil society activities with the aim of improving legal framework regarding human rights in compliance with international standards.
Participation and contribution to the civil society activities that raises the awareness and educate the public opinion on human rights, their protection and procedures which should be followed in cases these rights are violated.
List of most recent publications in the fiel d
“Social Education 9”, Book Edition for the State middle school curriculum. Co-author, Arberia 07 Edition, 2007, Tirana.
“International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the most recent instrument for the protection of human rights”.
Proceeding Book of the National Scientific Conference “Protective mechanism of individual rights for the due process of law”, 27 February 2011, Tirana.
“Measures that should be taken by the Republic of Albania to implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance”. Scientific Magazine “Legal Life”, School of Magistrates, No, 1 March 2011 (in publication) Tirana.
Kimio Yakushiji (Japan)
Date and place of birth: 31 May 1950, 1-8-15, Soja, Soja City, Japan, 719-1126
Working languages: English
Current position/function
Vice-president of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (before 1 April 2011)
Professor, School of Law, Ritsumeikan University (on and after 1 April 2011)
Main professional activities
From 1 April 2011, Professor, School of Law, Ritsumeikan University (RU).
From 1 March 2007 to 31 March 2011, Vice-president and professor of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) and councilor of Ritsumeikan Trustee Board.
From 1 April 2005 to 31 December 2006, Vice-president of RU; and from 1 April 2005 to 28 February 2007, Professor, College of Law, RU.
From 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005, Vice-president and professor of APU.
From 1 April 1992 to 31 March 2004, Professor, College of Law, RU.
From 1 April 1987 to 31 March 1992, Associate Professor, College of Law, RU.
From 1 April 1981 to 31 March 1987, Associate Professor, Kobe Shosen University.
From 1 April 1979 to 31 March 1981, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Kyoto University.
Educational background
From 1 April 1976 to 31 March 1979, Doctor course, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University (completed doctor programme having fulfilled the credit requirements).
From 1 April 1974 to 31 March 1976, Master course, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University (LLM).
From 1 April 1969 to 31 March 1974, College of Law, Kyoto University (B.L.).
Other main activities in the field relevant to the mandate of the treaty body concerned
Member of the Japan International Human Rights Law Association (from 1997 to 2000, editor in chief of Human Rights International (Japanese); from 2000 to 2003, Director; from 2003 to 2006, President).
Member of the Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute since its establishment in 1994.
Member of the Japanese Society of International Law (current position, Chairman of the Planning Committee; from 2001 to 2003, editor in chief of the Journal of International Law and Diplomacy (Japanese); from 2003 to 2006, Treasurer).
Legal Advisor to the Japanese Delegation to the United Nations Conference of the Ad Hoc Committee on Jurisdictional Immunities of the States and Their Property (2002, 2003, 2004).
List of most recent publications in the field
The Potential of International Human Rights to Develop into World Constitutional Rights (Japanese), Seakai-ho Nenpo (Yearbook of World Law), No. 29, 2010, pp. 1–49.
Interpretation and Application of International Human Rights Conventions in Japan (Japanese), Jurist, No. 1387 (2009), pp. 47–57.
Domestic Implementation of Human Rights Conventions and Judicial Remedies in Japan (English), The Japanese Annual of International Law, No. 46 (2003), pp. 1–45.