Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi Heinous Attack against Human Dignity - Press Conference

Press Briefing by Suela Janina, Chair of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Mr. Bernard Duhaime, Chair of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Bernard Duhaime, today (18 Oct) said that the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi “is a crime” as well as “a heinous attack against human dignity and is completely against all fundamental principles that govern the United Nations.”
Duhaime told reporters that his office has asked both Saudi and Turkish authorities “for an explanation in this regard, in particular how they are proceeding to investigate the situation, and we expect a response from the concerned authorities.”
The official, who was presenting the latest report on enforced involuntary disappearances, said that “this is not the only situation of the sort, as detailed in our annual report” and added that “we have addressed these types of extra-territorial abductions in which, fortunately, sometimes we are able to find the person afterwards, and unfortunately, like in Mr. Khashoggi’s case, we have not found them yet.”
This year’s report expresses serious concern that the number of enforced disappearances continues to be unacceptably high worldwide, with 820 new cases reported between May 2017 and May this year, and called for more assistance to be made available to family members and members of civil society to enable them to report cases to the Working Group and, more importantly, to keep working on enforced disappearance issues.