Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

About the Working Group

The mandate of the Working Group

What this mechanism can do to assist you

How to submit a report to the Working Group

Further information about the Working Group

About the Working Group

The Working Group is a universal mechanism. It applies to all countries in the world.

The Working Group was established by the UN Commission on Human Rights and not under a treaty. Therefore, it does not have any treaty (international legal) powers to compel a government to take action and/or to stop violating human rights. What it aims to do is help the relatives of disappeared persons to find out what has happened to their missing family members by raising individual cases with the government concerned.

Since its establishment in 1980, the Working Group has transmitted 50,000 cases of alleged disappearances to over 70 governments. As of April 2001, only 3,500 of these cases have been clarified; this means that in those cases the fate of the individual was established. The Working Group itself has said that although every individual case which was clarified must be seen as a success, the fact that almost 46,000 case remain outstanding is not encouraging.

The Working Group has 6 members and the head of the group (the Chairperson-Rapporteur) is Mr Ivan Tosevski of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". It meets 3 times a year to consider cases submitted to it. However, it also operates an ‘urgent action procedure’ throughout the year to deal with new cases brought to its attention.   

The mandate of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

The Working Group examines cases of enforced disappearance brought to its attention.

It only examines cases which fit the definition of an enforced disappearance set out in the UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. This is because it only examines cases of enforced disappearances for which a state may be held responsible.

• persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by:
  • officials of different branches or levels of government,
  • organised groups,
  • private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the government,
• followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law.

It is important to note that the Working Group does not examine enforced disappearances carried out by irregular or insurgent groups fighting government forces within the territory of the State concerned.

What this mechanism can do to assist you

1          Examination of individual cases
The Working Group can examine a report of an enforced disappearance and, if the report contains the minimum information required (as described in the next section below) it can enter into communications with the government concerned. The aim of these communications is to try and find out what has happened to the disappeared individual.  

Step 1
The Working Group transmits the individual case to the government concerned. It requests the government to carry out an investigation into the alleged enforced disappearance and to inform the working group of the result. 

If the case concerns a recent disappearance which occurred up to 3 months before the Working Group received the report, then the Working Group treats this case as urgent.  Urgent cases are sent directly to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the country concerned. 

If the case concerns a disappearance which occurred more than 3 months before the Working Group received the report then the case is sent to the relevant government’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. 

Step 2
Any reply received from the government is sent by the Working Group to the source (that is the person submitting the report). The Working Group requests the source to send its comments on the government’s reply within 6 months. It is important to note that sometimes governments do not reply to the Working Group. 

Step 3
The Working Group receives the comments from the source. If the Working Group thinks that these comments present a reasonable challenge to the information provided by the government, then the Working Group can send the source’s comments to the government with a request for further information. 

The Working Group retains cases in its files as long as the exact whereabouts of the missing persons have not been established. 

2          Appeals concerning the protection of relatives and witnesses
Relatives of missing persons, witnesses to a disappearance and lawyers or organisations representing disappeared persons can be subjected to intimidation or reprisals, particularly if they seek to find out what has happened to a disappeared person. 

In cases of intimidation, the Working Group can send an appeal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government concerned calling on the government to protect the rights of such persons and to investigate any instance of alleged intimidation or reprisal. 

However, the Working Group is limited in what it can do to protect relatives and witnesses and this should be borne in mind before submitting a report to the Working Group. You should be aware that the Working Group transmits information from the reports it receives directly to the government concerned. If you are concerned about the risk of reprisals, you could mark the report you submit to the Working Group as CONFIDENTIAL. In addition, if you wish your name (or the name of the person submitting the report) to be withheld from the government concerned, you should clearly state this in the report you submit.  

3                    Fact-finding missions
The Working Group can carry out a fact-finding mission to a country with the consent of the country concerned. During such visits, the Working Group examines the situation regarding enforced disappearances and meets with government officials, non-governmental organisations and individuals. To find out about future visits of the Working Group you should contact its office.