Last year, I organised (if that's the right word) a quick petition to Parliament asking it to urge the government to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The petition went to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, which has now reported back [PDF]. The report is brief, so I'll reproduce it in full:
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has considered Petition 2005/185 of Morgan Davie and 86 others, requesting that the House of Representatives urge the Government to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as quickly as possible. We urge the Government to take note of the petition and consider the merits of signing the convention.(Emphasis added).
That doesn't look like much, but its a pretty positive result; normally petitions get the brush off of "we have examined [the petition] and have no matters to bring to the attention of the House". Given the predominance of government members on the committee, it suggests that they'e at least open to signing, which is good - but we'll have to wait and see whether anything comes of it.
Meanwhile, the ICPAPED is now halfway to entering into force, with Uruguay and Kazhakstan ratifying in the past week. At the current rate, it will enter into force in the next two years.
