Security Council Resolution 2474 (2019) [on Persons Missing as a Result of Armed Conflict]

S/RES/2474(2019)View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A document of the Security Council, under agenda item X Protection of civilians in armed conflict, published in 2019.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 23	Humanitarian assistance	56

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 23	Humanitarian assistance	56	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

7 reports · 2020–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	S/2026/390	Protection of civilians in armed conflict report of the Secretary-General	S/RES/2474(2019)
2025	S/2025/271	Protection of civilians in armed conflict report of the Secretary-General	S/RES/2474(2019)
2024	S/2024/385	Protection of civilians in armed conflict report of the Secretary-General	S/RES/2474(2019)
2023	S/2023/345	Protection of civilians in armed conflict report of the Secretary-General	S/RES/2474(2019)
2022	S/2022/381	Protection of civilians in armed conflict report of the Secretary-General	S/RES/2474(2019)

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Disappearance of Persons Human Rights in Armed Conflicts International Humanitarian Law

What’s in this document?

19 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its strong condemnation of the deliberate targeting of civilians or other protected persons in situations of armed conflict, and calls upon all parties to armed conflict to put an end to such practices, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law;

Calls upon parties to armed conflict to take all appropriate measures, to actively search for persons reported missing, to enable the return of their remains, and to account for persons reported missing without adverse distinction and to put in place appropriate channels enabling response and communication with families on the search process, and to consider the provision of information on available services in relation to administrative, legal, economic and psychosocial difficulties and needs they may face as a result of having a missing relative, including through an interaction with competent national and international organizations and institutions;

Calls upon parties to armed conflict to take appropriate measures to prevent persons from going missing as a result of armed conflict, through the facilitation of the reunion of families dispersed as a result of armed conflict, and to allow for the exchange of family news, consistent with their international obligations;

Calls upon parties to armed conflict to pay the utmost attention to cases of children reported missing as a result of armed conflict, and to take appropriate measures to search for and identify those children;

Calls upon parties to armed conflict to register and notify the personal details of persons deprived of their liberty, including prisoners of war, as a result of armed conflict, and belonging to the adverse party, and allow them to correspond with their families, consistent with their international obligations;

Further calls upon States, in cases of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, to take measures, as appropriate, in order to ensure thorough, prompt, impartial and effective investigations and the prosecution of offences linked to missing persons as a result of armed conflict, in accordance with national and international law, with a view to full accountability;

Urges parties to armed conflict to collect, protect, and manage all relevant data and documents on missing persons as a result of armed conflict while respecting privacy, consistent with applicable national and international law;

Urges parties to armed conflict to search for and recover the dead as a result of armed conflict, identify them, including by recording all available information and mapping the location of burial sites, to respect the remains of the dead, including by respecting and properly maintaining their graves, and to return them, whenever possible, to their relatives, consistent with applicable obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law; as it relates to personal data protection, to refrain from deliberate relocation of remains from mass graves, to avoid excavation and recovery efforts by untrained persons that result in the damage or destruction of human remains, and to ensure that, in any exhumation or recovery effort, data possibly leading to the identification of the deceased person is adequately collected and recorded;

Urges parties to armed conflict to establish national information bureaus or other mechanisms, upon the outbreak of a conflict, to exchange information on detainees and civilians belonging to an adverse party, to transmit such information to that party, with the support of the Central Tracing Agency as a neutral intermediary, where appropriate, and to open enquiries regarding these persons;

Reiterates its support for the efforts of the ICRC in seeking access to information on persons reported missing and calls on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their commitments in respect to such access and to cooperate with the ICRC and its Central Tracing Agency in addressing the issue of missing persons, consistent with applicable obligations under international humanitarian law;

Stresses the importance of strengthening the role and capacity of the existing national, regional and international mechanisms that assist in addressing the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, to provide advice and support to Member States, other national, international and regional organizations and mechanisms in this field to provide training, to exchange, as appropriate, on respective registries of missing persons cases, and to share best practices in close cooperation with all relevant organisations;

Urges all parties to armed conflict to allow safe and unimpeded access of humanitarian personnel, including those engaged in the search for and identification of missing persons or their remains as soon as circumstances permit;

Calls upon all Member States to engage in networking, exchange of experience, best practices and technical recommendations, and other means of cooperation and coordination with state institutions, and, as appropriate, with national commissions on missing persons, competent regional and international organizations and mechanisms;

Underscores that accountability for missing persons as a result of armed conflict can be among the components of the design and implementation of peace negotiations and agreements and peacebuilding processes, including with reference to justice and rule of law mechanisms;

Calls upon all parties to armed conflict, when negotiating and implementing peace agreements, to include provisions to facilitate the search for missing persons and to take all necessary steps to protect victims and witnesses testifying on those reported missing in order to end impunity;

Underscores that the steps set out in this resolution can contribute to the process of confidence building between parties to armed conflict, expediting peace negotiations and settlement, transitional justice processes, reconciliation, peacebuilding and sustaining peace;

Encourages Member States to increase their voluntary financial, technical training and logistical assistance for states, upon their request, in support of exhumation and identification processes relevant to the search for missing persons as a result of armed conflict, in particular to advance forensic scientific and methodological efforts for the recovery, identification and management of bodies or human remains in a way that respects human dignity;

Encourages the relevant United Nations Secretary-General’s special representatives, envoys, coordinators and advisors to take into account, while implementing their respective mandates, the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict;

Requests the Secretary-General to include as a sub-item in the reports on the protection of civilians the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, including measures undertaken by parties to armed conflict in the implementation of the provisions of this resolution, and to brief the Security Council every twelve months on the implementation of the resolution, within the annual briefing on the protection of civilians.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?