A/HRC/45/13/Add.2 IV. Enforced disappearances in the context of the 2010 interethnic violence 34. The Working Group conducted a visit to the region of Osh, where inter-ethnic violence had broken out between 11 and 14 June 2010, and was informed that the conflict had resulted in a significant number of missing persons. According to the Government, although the majority of cases have been resolved, 17 individuals are still missing and the remains of 9 others are still pending identification. While noting that the authorities have provided assurances that the search continues, no real progress has been made recently. The Working Group hopes that further efforts will be made to search for those missing and complete identifications, with the involvement and participation of the relatives concerned. 35. The Working Group was informed by civil society representatives that the State had failed to address transitional justice issues from the June 2010 events and had implemented few related policies, laws or programmes. The criminal justice system had produced highly unequal outcomes, with over 70 per cent of victims identified as being ethnic Uzbeks and over 70 per cent of the charges relating to the 442 registered murder cases having been brought against this minority group. There were serious doubts over fair trial standards in many cases, which risked fuelling resentment between members of this minority group and the authorities. 7 Defence lawyers representing ethnic Uzbek defendants are said to have been subjected to improper interference and intimidation. V. Non-refoulement 36. Article 8 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance prohibits the expulsion, return or extradition of a person to another State where there are substantial grounds to believe that he or she would be in danger of enforced disappearance. Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement is of an absolute nature, which means, inter alia, that States cannot transfer or remove foreign nationals from their jurisdiction to another country when they risk being subjected to enforced disappearance, regardless of whether they entered the State regularly or not, whether they are asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, migrant workers or have another status, and whether they maintain or have lost their status. During its visit, the Working Group observed that there was little awareness about this cardinal international legal principle and obligation, as demonstrated by the phrase “we are not responsible for what happens in the other country”, which was pronounced by a high-ranking representative of a State agency. 37. Kyrgyzstan has failed to integrate its non-refoulement obligation into its legislation. The Working Group was informed that only transfers and removals that may lead to torture, not those involving the risk of being subjected to enforced disappearance, were prohibited. Indeed, it received reports of transfers that had resulted in enforced disappearances, in particular of persons returned to China and Uzbekistan. 38. The Working Group was informed about the lack of detailed and transparent mechanisms and procedures for ensuring that the protection needs of migrants were 7 8 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination too has expressed concern about the administration of justice following the inter-ethnic conflict of June 2010 (CERD/C/KGZ/CO/8-10). In particular, it expressed concern that investigations into the human rights violations that occurred during and after the violence had not been effective and had been marred by ethnic bias and lack of respect for fair trial and due process guarantees. The Committee was particularly concerned that the majority of the victims of the violations and of those facing criminal prosecution were ethnic Uzbeks, that no compensation had been provided to ethnic Uzbek victims of miscarriages of justice and that there was an absence of remedies for persons arbitrarily dismissed from their posts following the events of 2010. The Committee reiterated its concern about the reported reliance on forced confessions in courts. It recommended setting up a hybrid national/international mechanism to review all cases of persons convicted, investigating all human rights violations to bring perpetrators to justice and compensate victims, investigating allegations of torture committed by law enforcement officials and providing remedies to ethnic Uzbeks arbitrarily dismissed from their posts as a result of the events of 2010.