“When I came here, I saw others, I listened to their stories, and it gave me power to convert weakness into strength,” said Swastika Mali, a Nepalese paralegal and activist at Advocacy Forum Nepal, whose father was disappeared over 20 years ago. “The countries and cases may differ, but the pain is the same. This is a place where we can heal and realize we’re not alone.”

Co-organized in Geneva, Switzerland, by the Convention against Enforced Disappearances Initiative, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and UN Human Rights, the first World Congress on Enforced Disappearances united 720 participants from more than 120 countries and 1,392 attendees online.

The event, which primarily gathered relatives of the disappeared, provided a platform to share experiences, challenges, and best practices. It also marked a crucial step in shaping a collective path toward justice, truth, reparation, and the prevention of future disappearances.

“Families of the disappeared connected together, formed a regional movement, a global coalition,” said Olivier de Frouville, Chair of the CED. “[For years] they advocated for the right, the adoption and then the ratification of the Convention.”

De Frouville stated that nearly 20 years after the Convention’s adoption, the first World Congress aimed to reinvigorate the global movement.

“Enforced disappearances are a human tragedy — trapping the disappeared and their families in fear and uncertainty,” said UN Human Rights Deputy High Commissioner, Nada Al-Nashif in her keynote speech.

She stressed that victims’ voices must remain central to all efforts and pledged UN support to ensure the effective implementation of international agreements like the Convention against Enforced Disappearances.

“Last month in Syria, the terrible suffering caused by enforced disappearance was brought to the world’s attention as thousands of detainees, whose fate or whereabouts were unknown, were released from prisons,” Al-Nashif said.

However, over 100,000 people’s whereabouts remain undetermined, she added.

“Not knowing what has happened to a disappeared relative places an intolerable burden on those left behind,” said Jens Modvig, Chair of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, which has provided crucial medical, psychological, legal and humanitarian support to survivors of torture, including victims of enforced disappearance and their relatives, for over 40 years in more than 140 countries.

Modvig highlighted the interconnectedness of enforced disappearances and torture, noting that people who are disappeared are often tortured, but that also the relatives of enforced disappeared persons may be considered primary victims of torture.

Mali’s organization has been a grantee of the UN Fund since 2014. Mali has witnessed first-hand the way the Fund helps people, as her family was beneficiary of its support itself while sorting out the crisis that meant the disappearance of her father.

Women leading the fight for justice

For 17 years, Edita Burgos has been searching for her son, who was forcibly disappeared in the Philippines. A shy public-school teacher before the tragedy, her life changed when her son was disappeared.

“There was no way I would stay silent,” she said at the event in Geneva. She stepped into the spotlight, becoming a spokesperson for the families of the disappeared.

“We have suffered so much in isolation. We need to work with human rights and women’s organizations, with other families of the disappeared, and with our communities. Together, we can find the strength to search for our loved ones,” she said.

Nassera Dutour, a human rights defender from Algeria, who also attended the event, has walked a similar path. Since her son Amine was forcibly disappeared in 1997, she has dedicated her life to the fight for justice, becoming the spokesperson for the Collective of Families of Disappeared Persons in Algeria, also supported by the UN Fund, and that has worked closely for decades with the Working Group and the CED.

“I wake up every day for the disappeared,” Dutour said. Her advocacy is driven by a desire to prevent others from enduring the same pain. “I don’t want other mothers to see their lives completely destroyed like mine.”

Dutour emphasized the importance of States keeping their promises to uphold their human rights commitments.

For Isatou Ayeshah Jammeh from The Gambia, knowing the truth about a disappeared loved one is crucial.

“Enforced disappearance is a violation that is massive,” Jammeh said at the event. “So, it’s important that victims really know what happened to their loved ones.”

Jammeh’s father was forcibly disappeared in 2005. Though her family stayed silent initially, by 2017 they began to speak out. After the dictatorship fell, a national truth commission revealed the fate of her father, giving them a sense of closure.

“At least we knew the truth,” Jammeh said. “That burden of searching was lifted, and we could focus on seeking justice and raising awareness about enforced disappearances in our country.”

Throughout the Congress, the vital role women play in the fight against enforced disappearances was highlighted.

Al-Nashif emphasized that women are often left to lead the search for truth and justice as wives, mothers, and sisters, despite facing systemic challenges.

UN mechanisms for the people

The UN has two mechanisms to fight against enforced disappearances: The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) monitors the implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, while the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances oversees adherence to the UN Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

“Urgent actions [from the CED] have proven to be a humanitarian tool,” said Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Contreras, a legal director of Idheas, a Mexican human rights NGO specialising in strategic litigation. “Under article 30 of the Convention these actions have directly contributed to locating more than 450 disappeared persons worldwide.”

Gutiérrez Contreras and his colleagues in Mexico have also achieved a groundbreaking legal victory. Through persistent advocacy, they secured a Supreme Court ruling that decisions made by the CED are binding and mandatory in Mexico — an essential step in the fight against impunity.

The CED’s 2021 visit to Mexico prompted key advancements in forensic capabilities. Maximilian Murck, coordinator of the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) human identification project highlighted that CED recommendations led to a vital initiative to strengthen forensic capacity, addressing a major gap in Mexico’s pursuit of justice.

“The CED emphasized the importance of fingerprint identification technologies, and as a direct result of this recommendation and at the request of and in collaboration with the National Search Commission, with the support of the government of Germany and Norway, UNFPA launched a human identification program in late 2022,” Murck said.

Murck noted that the program significantly improved the identification of unknown deceased individuals. By 2024, the number of state forensic services matching fingerprints with the database of the National Electoral Registry grew from 3 to 24, with matches rising from 800 in 2020 to over 6,000.

While there are improvements in some countries, without proper accountability, this grave human rights violation persists, allowing perpetrators to act without fear of consequences.

“The tragic fact of widespread impunity for enforced disappearances means there is no deterrent for the prevention of these crimes,” said Al-Nashif.

Published in ohchr.org
January 24, 2025