International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2024; August 30th.

FORUM: "Finding Actionable solutions to eliminate and prevent enforced disappearances." International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2024. The United Nations and regional human rights experts urged all States to provide effective access to justice for victims of enforced disappearance, that include any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #enforceddisappearances, #30August, #access2justice,#InternationalDayOfVictimsOfEnforcedDisappearances.

EVENTS: On August 30th; The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2024 will be held at the United Nations Palace in Geneva and at UNHQ in New York. The United Nations invites authorities to strengthen operational and technical capacities, including the provision of training in mass grave exhumations, crime scene management, and mortuary procedures; to provide guidance on effective operational planning, inter-agency cooperation, chain of custody, and the upgrade mortuary facilities. In the context of the 76th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Inter-american Commission on Human Rights, the Chairperson of the Working Group on Death Penalty, Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Representatives of Indonesia and Malaysia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights jointly called on all States to make pledges to promote justice for all victims of enforced disappearances without delay, and to ratify international and regional instruments on enforced disappearances.

On 15 and 16 January 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. The forthcoming World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, which will take place, presents a crucial opportunity to bring States, victims and their representative organisations, national human rights institutions and experts together to find actionable solutions to eliminate and prevent enforced disappearances and promote the universal ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances. The World Congress will allow us to identify and adopt concrete actions to address these concerns and pledge to implement them under our respective mandates. We encourage all actors involved in the fight against enforced disappearances to make the most of this event and to commit to concrete action. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we reiterate our shared commitment to assisting victims worldwide and our call for collective action to end this scourge, once and for all.”

Statement by Human Rights experts ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances 2024; August 30th.
UN* and regional** human rights experts issued a joint statement today, urging all actors to join forces immediately to support victims of enforced disappearance and ensure that their rights and obligations as codified in regional and international treaties and other legal instruments, become a reality for all:

“Victims of enforced disappearance include any individual who has suffered harm as a direct result. They still face unbearable challenges, and impunity prevails. We renew our solidarity with victims of enforced disappearance, as well as organisations, human rights defenders and lawyers that support them.

Despite ongoing attempts to search for truth, justice and reparation, and even with the specialised national, regional and international frameworks in place, victims and those that support them are too often met with silence, or with the rejection of their allegations.

Clear commitments and action plans remain necessary.

Progress can be achieved when all concerned parties work together. The forthcoming World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 15 and 16 January 2025, presents a crucial opportunity to bring States, victims and their representative organisations, national human rights institutions and experts together to find actionable solutions to eliminate and prevent enforced disappearances and promote the universal ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances.

The World Congress will allow us to identify and adopt concrete actions to address these concerns and pledge to implement them under our respective mandates. We encourage all actors involved in the fight against enforced disappearances to make the most of this event and to commit to concrete action. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we reiterate our shared commitment to assisting victims worldwide and our call for collective action to end this scourge, once and for all.”




*UN experts: Ms. Aua Baldé (Chair-Rapporteur), Ms. Gabriella Citroni (Vice-Chair); Ms. Grażyna Baranowska, and Ms. Ana-Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Mr. Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro (Rapporteur), Mr. Mohammed Ayat, Mr. Matar Diop (Vice Chair), Mr. Olivier de Frouville (Chair), Ms. Suela Janina, Mr. Fidelis Kanyongolo, Ms. Milica Kolakovic-Bojovic (Vice Chair), Ms. Barbara Lochbihler, Mr. Horacio Ravenna (Vice Chair), and Ms. Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana, of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. **Regional Human Rights Experts: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Hon. Idrissa Sow (Chairperson), Working Group on Death Penalty, Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Ms. Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Representative of Indonesia and Prof. Dr. Amara Pongsapich, Representative of Thailand of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights; and Mr. Michael O' Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.