Media advisories Special Procedures

Enforced disappearance: UN experts group to review 586 cases from 30 countries

03 May 2024

GENEVA (3 May 2024) – The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will hold its 133rd session in Warsaw, Poland, from 6 to 10 May 2024. A total of 586 cases from 30 countries will be examined, as well as the review of 64 cases tantamount to enforced disappearances perpetrated by three non-state actors.

This session is being held in Warsaw at the invitation of the Polish Government. The Working Group welcomes the cooperation as it allows for engagement with regional stakeholders.

The Working Group’s five members will hold meetings with relatives of forcibly disappeared people, State representatives, civil society groups and other stakeholders to exchange information on individual cases and on structural issues and challenges related to enforced disappearances.

The experts will also examine allegations regarding obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in the context of armed conflicts, state of emergencies and patterns of so called “short-term” enforced disappearances.

Moreover, the Working Group will adopt reports to be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2024, including a study on elections and enforced disappearance, a report on its visit to the African Union human rights and judicial organs and other regional bodies, and follow-up reports on previous country visits to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The decisions made by the Working Group during the 133rd session will be reflected in its next post-sessional report.

The sessions of the Working Group are held in private.

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is comprised of five independent experts from all regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Ms. Aua Baldé (Guinea-Bissau) and the Vice-Chair is Ms. Gabriella Citroni (Italy); other members are Ms. Grażyna Baranowska (Poland); Ms. Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez (Mexico); and Ms. Angkhana Neelapaijit (Thailand).

The Working Group was established by the then UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It endeavours to establish a channel of communication between the families and the Governments concerned, to ensure that individual cases are investigated, with the objective of clarifying the whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.

Learn how to submit a case to the Working Group.

Learn more about the work of the Working Group.

For more information and media requests, please contact Ms. Koat Aleer: koat.aleer@un.org and Mr. Sergii Kurnosenko: Sergii.Kurnosenko@un.org or hrc-wg-eid@un.org.

For media inquiries about other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org).

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on X: @UN_SPExperts.

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