Wellington, March 6 NZPA - A parliamentary committee is urging the Government to consider signing a convention banning nations from secretly abducting or killing people.

The foreign affairs, defence and trade select committee considered a petition that urged the Government to sign up to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The committee recommended the Government take note of the petition and consider the merits of signing the convention.

Since 1980 there have been more than 51,000 enforced disappearances in more than 90 countries.

The convention adopted by the United Nations in 2006, was inspired by disappearances and killings of government opponents during Latin American military dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s.

Officially, some 12,000 people were killed or disappeared during Argentina's 1976-1983 Dirty War, a witch hunt for leftists carried out by the country's dictatorship. Rights groups put the number at 30,000.

The convention defines disappearance in international law as a criminal act, requires governments to outlaw secret detention and undeclared detention facilities, and establishes the right of families to learn the fate and whereabouts of relatives who have been detained.

It also creates a committee to monitor the treaty's implementation and to review individuals' complaints of disappearances that governments have not acknowledged.

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