UN for global rules for immediate search of disappeared people
Dhaka: Two UN expert groups on enforced disappearances on Friday called upon States to establish and activate protocols for the immediate search of disappeared persons across the world.
Speaking ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances to be observed on 30 August (Sunday), the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances urged governments to activate all means of search of disappeared persons in a systematic way, including through the establishment of protocols.
‘Over the last year, we've been working on 246 recent cases of enforced disappearances perpetrated all over the world - a clear indication that this heinous practice is still used in a number of countries,’ according to a message received here from Geneva.
The groups called upon governments to take action as soon as a case of disappearance is reported to the authorities and all necessary measures to seek and find the disappeared person and to avoid irreparable harm.
‘We equally urge governments to guarantee the full protection from all forms of reprisals of those who report cases of enforces disappearances, the authors of the urgent actions requests, the witnesses, the relatives of the disappeared persons, their defence counsels, and all persons taking part in the related investigations.’
The groups encouraged all those whose beloved ones have disappeared, as well as those acting on their behalf, to make use of the tool provided by the urgent action procedures of the Working Group and of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances.’
These cases are nevertheless only the tip of the iceberg of thousands of cases which are never reported either because of fear of reprisals or because the security conditions do not allow doing so, it said.
The lack of resources and the insufficient awareness of existing international mechanisms are other reasons why many cases of enforced disappearances are never reported to the United Nations.
Following the activation of the urgent actions procedures by the Working Group and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances over the last year, 13 disappeared persons were found alive, in detention, and sadly two were found dead.
The experience and use of the tool of urgent actions by the Committee and the Working Group show that in the case of enforced disappearance time is of the essence.
The hours and days that follow a disappearance are crucial to find the disappeared person alive. The actions taken in the immediate aftermath of a disappearance cannot be left to hazards but have to be systematized in protocols that permit the immediate activation of all means at disposal for the search of the disappeared.
These protocols for the search of the disappeared need to be established in all States - irrespective of the number of enforced disappearances - and have to presume, at least initially, that the disappeared person must be searched alive.