Question of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

A/RES/59/200View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 105b Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, published in 2005.

What other versions does this mandate have?

17 versions · 1983–2005

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2005	A/RES/59/200	Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances	1,408	79%Compare
2003	A/RES/57/215	Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances	1,514	68%Compare
2001	A/RES/55/103	Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances	1,243	82%Compare
1999	A/RES/53/150	Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances	1,135	95%Compare
1997	A/RES/51/94	Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances	1,116	64%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

2 reports · 2004–2006

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2006	A/61/289	Question on enforced or involuntary disappearances report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/59/200
2004	A/59/341	Question on enforced or involuntary disappearances report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/57/215

What’s in this document?

28 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms that any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity and a grave and flagrant violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1 and reaffirmed and developed in other international instruments in this field, as well as a violation of the rules of international law; and that no State shall practise, permit or tolerate enforced disappearances as proclaimed in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;

Urges all Governments to take appropriate legislative or other steps to prevent and suppress the practice of enforced disappearances, in keeping with the Declaration, and to take action to that end at the national and regional levels and in cooperation with the United Nations, including through the provision of technical assistance;

Calls upon Governments to take steps to ensure that, when a state of emergency is introduced, the protection of human rights is ensured, in particular with regard to the prevention of enforced disappearances;

Reminds Governments that impunity with regard to enforced disappearances contributes to the perpetuation of this phenomenon and constitutes one of the obstacles to the elucidation of its manifestations, and in this respect also reminds them of the need to ensure that their competent authorities conduct prompt and impartial inquiries in all circumstances in which there is a reason to believe that an enforced disappearance has occurred in territory under their jurisdiction, and that, if allegations are confirmed, perpetrators should be prosecuted;

Expresses its appreciation to those Governments that are investigating, are cooperating at the international and bilateral levels, have developed or are developing appropriate mechanisms to investigate any cases of enforced disappearances that are brought to their attention and to prevent any such occurrences, and urges all the Governments concerned to expand their efforts in this area;

Once again urges the Governments concerned:

To take steps to protect witnesses of enforced 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 may be subjected;

To continue their efforts to elucidate the fate of disappeared persons;

To make provision in their legal systems for machinery for victims of enforced or involuntary disappearances or their families to seek fair and adequate reparation;

Reaffirms that 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 to exercise their rights are assured;

Encourages States, as some have already done, to provide concrete information on measures taken to give effect to the Declaration, as well as obstacles encountered;

Requests all States to consider the possibility of disseminating the text of the Declaration in their respective national languages and to facilitate its dissemination in local languages;

Notes the action taken by non-governmental organizations to encourage implementation of the Declaration, and invites them to continue to facilitate its dissemination;

Stresses the importance of the work of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the Commission on Human Rights, and encourages it in the execution of its mandate to continue to promote communication between the families of disappeared persons and the Governments concerned, in particular when ordinary channels have failed, with a view to ensuring that sufficiently documented and clearly identified individual cases are investigated and to ascertaining whether such information falls under its mandate and contains the required elements;

Invites the Working Group to continue to seek the views and comments of all concerned, including Member States, in preparing its reports;

Also invites the Working Group to identify obstacles to the realization of the provisions of the Declaration, to recommend ways of overcoming those obstacles and, in this regard, to continue a dialogue with Governments and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations;

Encourages the Working Group to continue to consider the question of impunity, in the light of the relevant provisions of the Declaration;

Requests the Working Group to pay the utmost attention to cases of children subjected to enforced disappearance and children of disappeared persons and to cooperate closely with the Governments concerned to search for and identify those children;

Appeals to the Governments concerned, in particular those that have not yet replied to the communications transmitted by the Working Group, to cooperate fully with it and, in particular, to reply promptly to its requests for information so that, while respecting its working methods based on discretion, it may perform its strictly humanitarian role;

Encourages the Governments concerned to give serious consideration to requests for visits to their countries by the Working Group so as to enable the Group to fulfil its mandate even more effectively;

Expresses its profound 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 invited the Group to visit their countries, requests them to give all necessary attention to the recommendations of the Group, and invites them to inform the Group of any action they take on those recommendations;

Calls upon the Commission on Human Rights to continue to study this question as a matter of priority and to take any steps it may deem necessary to the pursuit of the task of the Working Group and to the follow-up to its recommendations when it considers the report to be submitted by the Group to the Commission at its sixty-first session;

Renews its requests to the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Working Group with all of the facilities it requires to perform its functions, especially for carrying out missions and following them up;

Recalls Economic and Social Council decision 2001/221 of 4 June 2001, in which the Council endorsed the decision of the Commission on Human Rights to create an intersessional open-ended working group, with the mandate to prepare a draft legally binding normative instrument for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance;

Welcomes the decision of the Commission on Human Rights to convene the intersessional working group before its sixty-first session, with a view to the prompt completion of its work and the submission of its report to the Commission at its sixty-first session;

Requests the Secretary-General to keep it informed of the steps he takes to secure the widespread dissemination and promotion of the Declaration;

Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to it at its sixty-first session a report on the steps taken to implement the present resolution;

Decides to consider the question of enforced disappearances, in particular the implementation of the Declaration, at its sixtieth session, under the sub-item entitled “Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

Question of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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