On 5 November 2010 in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, a special event dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is due to take place. We Remember founder Irina Krasovskaya will participate in the event.

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was the first United Nations human rights thematic special procedure established with a universal mandate. On 29 February 1980, following the numerous allegations of cases of enforced disappearances that originated in various parts of the world during the 1970s, the former Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 20 (XXXVI) establishing a body of five experts from different regions of the world to examine this phenomenon for one year. Since that date, the mandate of the Working Group has been regularly renewed. The Working Group has dealt with more than 50,000 cases from more than 80 countries from all parts of the world.

The Working Group’s core mandate is to assist relatives to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared family members. It examines reports of disappearances received from relatives of disappeared persons or human rights organizations acting on their behalf. The Working Group deals with the cases on a purely humanitarian basis, irrespective of whether the Government concerned has ratified any relevant human rights treaty providing for an individual complaints procedure. It acts essentially as a channel of communication between the families of disappeared persons and Governments, and has successfully developed a dialogue with the majority of Governments concerned with the aim of solving cases of disappearance.

Following the adoption in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as a body of principles for all States, the Working Group was encouraged to provide assistance in the implementation by States of the Declaration.

On 20 December 2006, the United Nations the General Assembly adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This human rights treaty will enter into force after the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession. As of September 2010, 86 States have signed and 19 have ratified or acceded to the Convention.

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