RES/7/12 Enforced or involuntary disappearances

Human Rights Council

Resolution 7/12. Enforced or involuntary disappearances

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming the relevant articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protect the right

of life, the right of liberty and security of the person, the right not to be subjected to

torture and the right to recognition as a person before the law,

Recalling resolution 20 (XXXVI) of 29 February 1980 of the Commission on

Human Rights establishing a Working Group consisting of five members, to serve as

experts in their individual capacity, to examine questions relevant to enforced or

involuntary disappearances,

Recalling also General Assembly resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992, by

which the Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from

Enforced Disappearances as a body of principles for all States,

Acknowledging the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection

of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance by the General Assembly in its

resolution 61/177 of 20 December 2006, and recognizing that its entry into force as

soon as possible through its ratification by 20 States will be a significant event,

Deeply concerned in particular by the increase in enforced or involuntary

disappearances in various regions of the world, including arrest, detention and

abduction, when these are part of or amount to enforced disappearances, and by the

growing number of reports concerning harassment, ill-treatment and intimidation of

witnesses of disappearances or relatives of persons who have disappeared,

Acknowledging the fact that acts of enforced disappearance are crimes against

humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,

Recalling resolutions 2004/40 of 19 April 2004 and 2005/27 of 19 April 2005

of the Commission on Human Rights,

Bearing in mind paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15

March 2006,

Recalling its resolutions 5/1, entitled “Institution-building of the United

Nations Human Rights Council”, and 5/2, entitled “Code of Conduct for Special

Procedures Mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council”, of 18 June 2007, and

stressing that the mandate-holder shall discharge his/her duties in accordance with

these resolutions and the annexes thereto,

1. Takes note of the report submitted by the Working Group on Enforced

or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/7/2) and of the recommendations contained

therein;

2. Decides to extend the mandate of the Working Group for a further

period of three years, and encourages it, in fulfilling its mandate:

(a) To promote communication between families of disappeared persons

and the Governments concerned, particularly when ordinary channels have failed,

with a view to ensuring that sufficiently documented and clearly identified individual

cases are investigated and to ascertain whether such information falls under its

mandate and contains the required elements;

(b) To observe, in its humanitarian task, United Nations standards and

practices regarding the handling of communications and the consideration of

Government replies;

(c) To consider the question of impunity in the light of the relevant

provisions of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced

Disappearances, and having in mind the set of principles for the protection and

promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity

(E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/20/Rev.1, annex II, and E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1);

(d) To pay particular attention to cases of children subjected to enforced

disappearance and children of disappeared persons and to cooperate closely with the

Governments concerned in searching for and identifying these children;

(e) To pay particular attention to cases transmitted to it that are most

urgent from a humanitarian perspective and that refer to ill-treatment, serious

threatening or intimidation of witnesses of enforced or involuntary disappearances or

relatives of disappeared persons;

(f) To pay particular attention to cases of disappearance of persons

working for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

wherever they occur, and to make appropriate recommendations for preventing such

disappearances and improving the protection of such persons;

(g) To apply a gender perspective in its reporting process, including in

information collection and the formulation of recommendations;

(h) To provide appropriate assistance in the implementation by States of

the Declaration and of the existing international rules;

(i) To continue its deliberations on its working methods and to include

these aspects in its reporting process to the Council;

(j) To submit a regular report on the implementation of its mandate to the

Council in accordance with its annual programme of work;

3. Calls on Governments that have not provided for a long period of time

substantive replies concerning claims of enforced disappearances in their countries to

do so and to give due consideration to relevant recommendations concerning this

issue made by the Working Group in their reports;

4. Urges States:

(a) To promote and give full effect to the Declaration on the Protection of

All Persons from Enforced Disappearances;

(b) To cooperate with the Working Group and help it to carry out its

mandate effectively and, in that framework, give serious consideration to requests for

visits to their countries;

(c) To prevent the occurrence of enforced disappearances, including by

guaranteeing that any person deprived of liberty is held solely in officially recognized

and supervised places of detention, guaranteeing access to all places of detention by

authorities and institutions whose competence in this regard has been recognized by

the concerned State, maintaining official, accessible, up-to-date registers and/or

records of detainees, and ensuring that detainees are brought before a judicial

authority promptly after detention;

(d) To work to eradicate the culture of impunity for the perpetrators of

enforced disappearances and to elucidate cases of enforced disappearances as crucial

steps in effective prevention;

(e) To prevent and investigate with special attention cases of enforced

disappearance of persons belonging to vulnerable groups, especially children, and to

bring the perpetrators of these enforced disappearances to justice;

(f) To take steps to provide adequate protection to witnesses of enforced

or involuntary disappearances, human rights defenders acting against enforced

disappearances and the lawyers and families of disappeared persons against any

intimidation or ill-treatment to which they might be subjected;

5. Urges the Governments concerned:

(a) To intensify their cooperation with the Working Group on any action

taken pursuant to recommendations addressed to them by the Working Group;

(b) To continue their efforts to elucidate the fate of disappeared persons

and to ensure that competent authorities in charge of investigation and prosecution are

provided with adequate means and resources to resolve cases and bring perpetrators to

justice;

(c) To make provisions in their legal systems for victims of enforced or

involuntary disappearances or their families to seek fair, prompt and adequate

reparation and, in addition, where appropriate, to consider symbolic measures

recognizing the suffering of victims and restoring their dignity and reputation;

(d) To address the specific needs of the families of disappeared persons;

6. Reminds States that:

(a) As proclaimed in article 2 of the Declaration on the Protection of All

Persons from Enforced Disappearances, no State shall practise, permit or tolerate

enforced disappearances;

(b) All acts of enforced or involuntary disappearance are crimes

punishable by appropriate penalties, which should take due account of their extreme

seriousness under criminal law;

(c) They should ensure that their competent authorities proceed

immediately to conduct impartial inquiries in all circumstances where there is reason

to believe that an enforced disappearance has occurred in territory under their

jurisdiction;

(d) If there is reason to believe that an enforced disappearance has

occurred in territory under their jurisdiction, all the perpetrators of that disappearance

must be brought to justice;

(e) Impunity is simultaneously one of the underlying causes of enforced

disappearances and a major obstacle to the elucidation of such cases;

(f) As proclaimed in article 11 of the Declaration, all persons deprived of

liberty must be released in a manner permitting reliable verification that they have

actually been released and, further, have been released in conditions in which their

physical integrity and ability fully to exercise their rights are assured;

7. Expresses:

(a) Its thanks to the many Governments that have cooperated with the

Working Group and replied to its requests for information and to the Governments

that have accepted visits of the Working Group to their countries, requesting them to

give all necessary attention to the Working Group’s recommendations and inviting

them to inform the Working Group of any action they take on those

recommendations;

(b) Its appreciation to the Governments that are investigating, cooperating

at the international and bilateral levels, and have developed or are developing

appropriate mechanisms to investigate any claims of enforced disappearance that are

brought to their attention, and encourages all Governments concerned to expand their

efforts in this area;

8. Invites States to take legislative, administrative, legal and other steps,

including when a state of emergency has been declared, at the national and regional

levels and in cooperation with the United Nations, if appropriate through technical

assistance, and to provide the Working Group with concrete information on the

measures taken and the obstacles encountered in preventing enforced and involuntary

disappearances and in giving effect to the principles set forth in the Declaration;

9. Takes note of the assistance provided to the Working Group by

non-governmental organizations and their activities in support of the implementation

of the Declaration, and invites those organizations to continue their cooperation;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to continue:

(a) To ensure that the Working Group receives all the assistance and

resources it requires to perform its functions, including supporting the principles of

the Declaration, carrying out and following up on missions and holding sessions in

countries that are prepared to receive it;

(b) To provide the resources needed to update the database on cases of

enforced disappearance;

(c) To keep the Working Group and the Council regularly informed of the

steps taken for the wide dissemination and promotion of the Declaration;

11. Decides to continue consideration of the matter in accordance with its

programme of work.

40th meeting 27 March 2008

Adopted without a vote.