This statement was delivered on behalf of the Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Commissioner for Human Rights is a non-judicial independent institution created in 1999 by the Council of Europe to promote awareness of and respect for human rights across its member states.
Enforced disappearances and an enduring lack of truth and justice for the victims are a longstanding serious human rights issue in Europe.
Across several member states, many victims of enforced disappearances committed in the past, either in conflict or in non-democratic societies, have not been found. Their relatives continue to suffer, and entire societies are affected by the absence of truth.
The large number of people reportedly forcibly disappeared since Russia’s illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is particularly alarming. Many are civilians, including thousands of children transferred to Russia, as well as some journalists and human rights defenders.
The Commissioner uses his voice to give visibility to the suffering of victims of enforced disappearances and their families. The successive Commissioners have met with relatives and victims’ associations, published reports including information on the handling of cases of those disappeared, and, through bilateral dialogue, called on member states to uphold the rights to truth and to redress. The Commissioner also provides guidance to member states on tackling this intolerable human rights violation. This includes a 2016 Issue Paper on Missing persons and victims of enforced disappearances in Europe, and a 2022 comment on migrants who have disappeared while trying to reach Europe, whose plight may constitute enforced disappearances in some circumstances. The Commissioner maintains co-operation with international organisations working on enforced disappearances.
The Commissioner welcomes the important initiative to hold this first World Congress on Enforced Disappearances and will continue to play his part toward ending enforced disappearances in Europe.
To this end, the Commissioner pledges to, in the course of his 6-year mandate:
1) advocate for the 19 Council of Europe member states that have not yet ratified the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances to do so;
2) pay specific attention to the situation of victims of enforced disappearances resulting from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, in particular civilians and the children transferred to Russia, and to advocate for strengthening the mechanisms used to identify, trace and ensure the return of the missing;
3) combat the practice of push-backs of migrants and asylum seekers at the borders of Europe, and encourage monitoring of and accountability for human rights violations committed there in order to contribute to preventing enforced disappearances of migrants;
4) when they are threatened and as required, to stand up for human rights defenders who work on advancing the rights of victims of enforced disappearances in the Council of Europe.
5) raise, in relevant contacts with authorities, the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to cases of enforced disappearances, some of which have been pending for a very long time.