A/HRC/WGEID/125/1 Annex IV Press releases and statements 1. On 4 June 2021, the Working Group, together with other special procedure mechanisms, issued a press release urging Canadian authorities and the Catholic Church to conduct prompt and thorough investigations into the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of over 200 children at a British Columbia ‘residential school’ for indigenous children forcibly taken from their homes.1 2. On 2 July 2021, the Working Group, together with other special procedure mechanisms, issued a press release expressing serious concerns about the imminent forced repatriation of former Guantanamo detainee Rival Mingazov from the United Arab Emirates to Russia, saying he faced substantial risk of torture and ill-treatment upon his return.2 3. On 15 July 2021, the Working Group, together with other special procedure mechanisms, issued a press release expressing dismay at the continued widespread arrest and extended pre-trial detention of human rights defenders in Egypt, saying activists have been detained without warrants, held incommunicado and then accused of multiple spurious offences.3 4. On 20 August 2021, on the occasion of International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, the Working Group, together with other special procedure mechanisms, issued a press release calling on all societies to collectively reject hate and exclusion, and for an end to impunity for violent acts driven by religion or belief.4 5. On 30 August, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Working Group, together with the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, issued a joint statement urging members States to address economic, social and cultural rights of victims of enforced disappearances. 6. On 30 August 2021, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Working Group, together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, issued a statement calling on States to adopt and implement search and investigation strategies within the framework of a comprehensive policy on disappearances. 5 7. On 3 September 2021, the Working Group, together with other special procedure mechanisms, issued a press release to appeal Iran to halt the imminent execution of Iranian Kurdish prisoner Heidar Ghorbani and repeal his death sentence amid serious concerns that he did not receive a fair trial and was tortured during pre-trial detention.6 8. On 21 September 2021, the Working Group issued a press release expressing alarm at the growing practice of covert extraterritorial operations by State agents, including socalled extraordinary renditions, often in cooperation with the host State, and the secret detention and torture of captives.7 9. On 21 September 2021, the Vice-Chair of the Working Group delivered a statement at the Human Rights Council’s forty-eighth regular session, highlighting that the “atrocious crime of enforced disappearance continues to happen and takes new shapes and forms”.8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27141&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27255&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27314&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27396&LangID=E. https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2021/224.asp. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27428&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27503&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27506&LangID=E. 63