UN Experts Urge Action as Enforced Disappearances Persist
International and regional human rights experts urged states to put victims at the center of efforts to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances. They called for stronger investigations, accountability, support for families and ratification of the international convention.
Human rights experts marked the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances with a call for stronger action to protect victims and their families. Photo: EFE / Archive Guatemala
August 30, 2026 Hour: 7:08 am
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Human rights experts called on states to protect victims and families and strengthen efforts to prevent and investigate enforced disappearances.
The victims of enforced disappearance must be at the center of efforts to prevent and eradicate the crime, international and regional human rights experts said Sunday, urging states to take concrete action without delay.
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The appeal came in a joint statement marking the 2026 International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The experts called for greater support for victims and their families, including access to information, truth and justice, adequate assistance and full reparations. They also urged states to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and ensure victims can participate safely and effectively in efforts to resolve their cases.
A crime that continues worldwide
Enforced disappearance occurs when a person is deprived of liberty, those responsible deny the detention or conceal the person’s whereabouts, and the act involves the direct or indirect participation of state agents. The crime violates, among other rights, the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Despite the creation of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances 46 years ago and the adoption of the International Convention 20 years ago, enforced disappearances continue to occur daily in all regions of the world, the statement said.
The consequences extend beyond those who disappear. Victims include missing people and anyone who suffers harm as a direct result of an enforced disappearance. Families seeking truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition often face administrative, financial and emotional burdens, while ineffective search and investigation mechanisms and persistent impunity can further obstruct their efforts.
Families may also see their living conditions deteriorate as they bear the costs associated with searches and investigations. Women and girls can face particular consequences because most missing people are men, especially when the disappeared person was the family’s main breadwinner. The impact can be compounded in societies where women already face broader patterns of social exclusion and patriarchal control.
Victims at the forefront
Families and survivors have responded by organizing to prevent missing people from being forgotten and to push for an end to enforced disappearances. Their advocacy contributed to the creation of the Working Group and later to the adoption of the International Convention, with families of missing people and supporting nongovernmental organizations participating in the process from its outset.
Victims and their organizations have also become key actors in searches and investigations. They collect evidence, conduct their own searches, demand accountability and advocate for changes to laws, policies and practices.
The experts said this role remains insufficiently recognized and supported. In some cases, authorities expect victims to take the lead in searches and investigations or place the burden of gathering evidence on them, even though enforced disappearances are often concealed in secrecy.
Victims should not have to assume the state’s responsibilities to search for missing people, investigate cases, prosecute those responsible and provide reparations, the statement said. It called for concrete measures to support victims and families as they continue to seek answers.
Call for stronger cooperation
The experts called for closer cooperation among states, victims, civil society organizations and international mechanisms to raise awareness of enforced disappearances, share lessons learned and strengthen cooperation.
They also urged states to allocate resources to search and accountability mechanisms and provide support to families of missing people.
Marking the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the experts called for the role of victims in preventing and eradicating the crime to be formally and urgently recognized. They urged states and other stakeholders to act under the CED20 theme, “Victims first. Action now.”
The statement called for ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, along with safe and effective participation by victims and access to information, truth and justice, adequate support and full reparations.
The public was also invited to contribute messages and artistic expressions to the CED20 Commemorative Wall, emphasizing the need to keep victims at the center of efforts to prevent and eradicate enforced disappearances.
