The U.N. General Assembly on 21 December 2010, by its resolution 65/209 decided to declare 30 August as International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The Day was first observed in 2011. Since then, The United Nations General Assembly welcomed the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and have invited the United Nations Members States to the commemorations.

Forum: International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2020.

The UN General Assembly expressed its deep concern about 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.

Of particular concern are:

• the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance;

• the use by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations;

• and the still widespread impunity for enforced disappearance.

Special attention must also be paid to specific groups of especially vulnerable people, like children and people with disabilities.

Statement by the United Nations Secretary General on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2020, August 30th.

The crime of enforced disappearance is rife across the world. We see new cases almost daily, including the disappearance of defenders of the environment, who are often indigenous peoples. Meanwhile, the excruciating pain of old cases is still acute, as the fate of thousands of disappeared people remains unknown, making the crime a continuous presence in the lives of the loved ones of the lost.

The United Nations Committee and Working Group on Enforced Disappearances have identified additional worrying trends, including reprisals against relatives of the victims and members of civil society, often in the name of security and counter-terrorism. Enforced disappearance also has gendered consequences particularly affecting women and LGBTI persons.

Impunity compounds the suffering and anguish. Under international human rights law, families and societies have a right to know the truth about what happened. I call on Member States to fulfil this responsibility.

With the support of international human rights mechanisms, States have a duty to strengthen their efforts to prevent enforced disappearances, to search for victims, and to increase assistance to victims and their relatives. It is equally critical to pursue credible and impartial judicial investigations.

On this International Day, let us renew our commitment to end all enforced disappearances. I call on all States to ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances and to accept the competence of the Committee to examine individual complaints. This is a first, but crucial step, towards the elimination of this atrocious crime.

António Guterres.

Conventions and Protocols