ABSTRACT
The enlarged Commission on Human Rights that convened in 1980 appeared quite unlike the small Western controlled body of 1947, and it also differed considerably from the Third World dominated enterprise initiated in 1967. The significant changes introduced in 1980 resulted from several years of growing pressure for reform stimulated by widespread dissatisfaction with the Commission's performance. The enlarged Western group formed an effective caucus that began meeting daily during the 1980 session. As in 1967, the altered political balance of 1980 made possible the approval of a new procedure for dealing with violations. The problem of greatest concern in 1980 was involuntary disappearances, political abductions sponsored by several dictatorships, primarily in Latin America. Van Boven and Neill MacDermot of the International Commission of Jurists co-hosted a program on disappearances attended by nineteen Commission members during the first week of the 1980 session.
