{"id":1326,"date":"2020-11-02T11:18:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T07:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohrc.om\/english\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:13:56","slug":"enforced-disappearances-rife-across-the-world-un-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/enforced-disappearances-rife-across-the-world-un-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Enforced disappearances \u2018rife across the world\u2019 \u2013 UN chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than a human rights violation against an individual, enforced disappearances have frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the whole of society, the United Nations said on Sunday, the\u00a0International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe crime of enforced disappearance is rife across the world\u201d,\u00a0Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u00a0said in his\u00a0message\u00a0commemorating the day. \u201cWe see new cases almost daily, including the disappearance of defenders of the environment, who are often indigenous peoples\u201d.\u201cMeanwhile\u201d, he continued, \u201cthe 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\u201d.\n
States have a duty to strengthen their efforts to prevent enforced disappearances —\u00a0UN chief<\/em><\/blockquote>\n

Global problem<\/h3>\nEnforced disappearance has become a global problem \u2013 not restricted to any specific region of the world.Once largely the product of military dictatorships, enforced disappearances can nowadays be perpetrated in complex situations of internal conflict, especially as a means of political repression of opponents, according to the UN.\n

Shining a spotlight<\/h3>\nParticular concerns involve the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance.The UN Committee and Working Group on Enforced Disappearances have identified additional worrying trends, Mr. Guterres said, \u201cincluding reprisals against relatives of the victims and members of civil society, often in the name of security and counter-terrorism\u201d.\u201cEnforced disappearance also has gendered consequences particularly affecting women and LGBTI persons,\u201d he added.\n

Carte blanche<\/h3>\nAlso concerning is the use of enforced disappearance by States of counter-terrorist activities as an excuse for breaching their obligations along with the widespread exemption from punishment for the crime.\u201cImpunity compounds the suffering and anguish,\u201d underscored the UN chief maintaining that it is \u201ccritical to pursue credible and impartial judicial investigations.\u201dUnder international human rights law, families and societies have a right to know the truth about what happened.\u201cI call on Member States to fulfil this responsibility\u201d, he upheld.\n

Renewing UN commitment<\/h3>\nHundreds of thousands of people have vanished during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world, attests the UN.\u201cWith 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,\u201d the top UN official stated.And special attention must be given to vulnerable populations, like children and people with disabilities.\u201cOn this International Day, let us renew our commitment to end all enforced disappearances\u201d, the Secretary-General said, calling on all States to \u201cratify the\u00a0Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearances\u00a0and to accept the competence of the\u00a0Committee\u00a0to examine individual complaints\u201d.He called it \u201ca first, but crucial step, towards the elimination of this atrocious crime\u201d.\"\"\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a human rights violation against an individual, enforced disappearances have frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the whole of society, the United Nations said on Sunday, the\u00a0International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance….","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ohrc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989698,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions\/989698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}