On September 12, 2014 the UN watchdog on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances presented its report to the UN Human Rights Council session currently being held in Geneva.
The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was established in 1980 with a mandate to "to examine questions relevant to enforced or involuntary disappearances of persons" including by conducting visits which "are undertaken only at the invitation of a Government".
In its report to the Council the Working Group lists countries which it has requested, but has never been able, to visit. Here are the holdouts:
- "The Working Group has requested a visit to the following countries, without having yet received a positive response: Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe."
It also requsted to visit China in February 2013 and the United Arab Emirates in September 2013.
All of these countries refuse "to issue an invitation" thereby effectively precluding a visit by UN investigators.
Furthermore, Iran, another country which the Working Group has never visited, has been evading the investigators since 2004 by first "agreeing" to a visit and then delaying the visit for 10 years and counting. The report states: "The Working Group recalls the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran agreed to a visit by the Working Group in 2004, which was delayed at the request of the Government. The Working Group calls upon the Government to set the dates for the visit."