International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance
A/RES/78/207
Human Rights Council, including resolutions 36/6 of 28 September 2017, 3 45/3 of
6 October 2020 4 and 54/14 of 11 October 2023, 5
Recalling its resolution 68/165 of 18 December 2013 on the right to the truth,
as well as Human Rights Council resolutions 36/7 of 28 September 2017, 6 45/10 of
6 October 2020 7 and 54/8 of 11 October 2023 8 on the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non -recurrence,
Recalling also its resolutions 73/162 of 17 December 2018, 75/174 of
16 December 2020 and 77/210 of 15 December 2022 on the human rights treaty body
system,
Recalling further that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance,
Recalling that no one shall be subjected to enforced disappearance and that no
exceptional circumstance whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war,
internal political instability or any public emergency, may be invoked as a
justification for enforced disappearance,
Recalling also that no one shall be held in secret detention,
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 disappearanc es, and by the
growing number of reports concerning harassment, ill-treatment and intimidation of
witnesses of disappearance or relatives of persons who have disappeared, including
by the misuse of information and communications technologies,
Recalling that the Convention sets out the right of victims to know the truth
regarding the circumstances of the enforced disappearance, the progress and results
of the investigation and the fate of the disappeared person, and sets forth State party
obligations to take appropriate measures in this regard,
Recalling also that the Convention defines the victim of enforced disappearance
as the disappeared person and any individual who has suffered harm as the direct
result of an enforced disappearance,
Acknowledging that the widespread or systematic practice of enforced
disappearance is recognized in the Convention as a crime against humanity, as defined
in applicable international law,
Stressing the importance of the work of the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances,
Taking note of the recommendation made by the Working Group that more
assistance should be provided to family members and members of civil society in
order to enable them to report alleged cases of enforced disappearance to the Working
Group, given that, in a large number of cases, the underreporting of cases of enforced
disappearance remains a major problem owing to various reasons, including, inter
alia, fear of reprisal, weak administration of justice, poverty and illiteracy,
Recognizing that the use of new technologies can prove instrumental in offering
better protection against enforced disappearance, by advancing the search for
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See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 53A
(A/72/53/Add.1), chap. III.
Ibid., Seventy-fifth Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/75/53/Add.1), chap. III.
Ibid., Seventy-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/78/53/Add.1), chap. III, sect. A.
Ibid., Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/72/53/Add.1), chap. III.
Ibid., Seventy-fifth Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/75/53/Add.1), chap. III.
Ibid., Seventy-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53A (A/78/53/Add.1), chap. III, sect. A.
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