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Protection of migrants from enforced disappearance: A human rights perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2018

Bernard Duhaime  and
Andréanne Thibault
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Abstract

This article looks at the issue of enforced disappearances of migrants during their migratory journey or once they have reached their destination, a subject yet to be addressed in the literature. It examines how the legal and analytical framework provided by international human rights law and migration law applies to enforced disappearances of migrants. It then reviews the factors that contribute to this phenomenon in different contexts, including the disappearance of migrants for political reasons, those that take place in detention and deportation processes and those that take place within the context of migrant smuggling and trafficking.

Keywords

international lawhuman rightsenforced or involuntary disappearancesmigrationUnited Nations
Type
The missing and their families
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 99 , Issue 905: The missing , August 2017 , pp. 569 - 587
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2018 

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References

1 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 48/13, 30 December 2013, para. 23.

2 For the purposes of this article, the term “migrant” refers to any person outside the State of which he or she is a national, including refugees, asylum-seekers and people who migrate for economic or work- or climate-related reasons. On this subject, see Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Mixed Migration”, available at: www.unhcr.org/mixed-migration.html (all internet references were accessed in October 2017). See also International Organization for Migration (IOM), “Glossary on Migration”, 2014, available at: www.iomvienna.at/sites/default/files/IML_1_EN.pdf.

3 See “Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances”, available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disappearances/Pages/DisappearancesIndex.aspx. See also Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Fact Sheet No. 6/Rev.3, July 2009, available at: www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet6Rev3.pdf.

4 The WGEID adopted a decision to conduct this study at its 105th Session in 2015. On this subject, see WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. A/HRC/30/38, 10 August 2015. The WGEID adopted its report at the beginning of 2017 and submitted it to the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council on 28 September 2017; see WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on Enforced Disappearances in the Context of Migration, UN Doc. A/HRC/36/39/Add.2, 28 July 2017.

5 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. A/HRC/33/51, 28 July 2016, para. 46 ff.

6 See, for example, the reports of the WGEID: UN Doc. E/CN.4/1985/15, para. 135; UN Doc. E/CN.4/1992/18/Add.1, para. 188; UN Doc. E/CN.4/1984/21, para. 102. See also UN Doc. E/CN.4/1492, Annex VIII, paras 1, 2.1, and Annex IX, p. 5. Missing people's families and loved ones might also emigrate for economic reasons (families often suffer socioeconomic hardships following a disappearance; see WGEID, Study on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/30/38/Add.5, 2015) or to continue searching for their missing loved one in the country where he or she disappeared. See, for example, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1985/15, para. 135. See also UN Doc. A/HRC/30/38/Add.5, paras 33–41; IOM, Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost during Migration, Geneva, 2014, p. 36Google Scholar.

7 On this subject, see Monique Crettol, Lina Milner, Anne Marie La Rosa and Jill Stockwell, “Establishing Mechanisms to Clarify the Fate and Whereabouts of Missing Persons: A Proposed Humanitarian Approach”, and the Q&A on the missing, in this issue of the Review.

8 Protocol Additional (I) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978) (AP I), Art. 33. See also Henckaerts, Jean-Marie and Doswald-Beck, Louise, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 117: “Each party to the conflict must take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of armed conflict and must provide their family members with any information it has on their fate.”

9 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2716 UNTS 3, 20 December 2006 (entered into force 23 December 2010) (ICPPED), Art. 2. See also the Preamble of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, UN Doc. A/RES/47/133, 18 December 1992. While the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a mandate under AP I to assist in tracing people who have gone missing in the context of an international armed conflict (Art. 33, para. 3), it is the WGEID that performs this function in the UN in relation to victims of “enforced or involuntary disappearances”. See UN Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 20 (XXXVI), 29 February 1980. It is worth noting that, for a time, the WGEID excluded cases of disappearances occurring in the context of international armed conflicts from its mandate, but it later lifted this restriction on its methods of work and began to accept such cases. See Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/WGEID/102/2, 7 February 2014, and Annex I to the report of the Economic and Social Council adopted on 14 November 2001, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/79. See also Andreu-Guzman, Federico, “Le Groupe de travail sur les disparitions forcées des Nations Unies”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 84, No. 848, 2002, p. 807Google Scholar; ICRC, The Missing – Mechanisms to Solve Issues on People Unaccounted For, Geneva, 19 December 2002, pp. 17, 155Google Scholar.

10 See above note 9.

11 See above note 9.

12 de Frouville, Olivier, “La Convention des Nations Unies pour la protection de toutes les personnes contre les disparitions forcées: Les enjeux juridiques d'une négociation exemplaire”, Droits Fondamentaux, No. 6, 2006, p. 3Google Scholar (Review's translation).

13 Ibid., p. 14. On the customary nature of the prohibition of enforced disappearance, see ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 8.

14 ICPPED, Art. 1(2).

15 See UN Treaty Collection, available at: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-16&chapter=4&clang=_en.

16 Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, OASTS 60, 9 June 1994 (entered into force 28 March 1996). See also O. de Frouville, above note 12, p. 2. It should be noted, however, that even before the adoption of these instruments, the term “enforced disappearance” had been defined, for example, in the case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras, tried by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) in 1988: IACtHR, Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras, Series C, No. 4, Judgment, 29 July 1988. See also Claude, Ophelia, “A Comparative Approach to Enforced Disappearances in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence”, Intercultural Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 5, 2010, p. 415Google Scholar.

17 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 2187 UNTS 3, 17 July 1998, Art. 7(1)(i).

18 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 UNTS 171, 16 December 1966 (entered into force 23 March 1976), Art. 12(2). Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also mentions this right.

19 ICCPR, Art. 13.

20 Ibid., Art. 2(1).

21 With the exception of Article 25, which gives nationals the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs and to be elected. On this subject, see also Vincent Chetail, “The Transnational Movement of Persons under General International Law – Mapping the Customary Law Foundations of International Migration Law”, in Vincent Chetail and Céline Bauloz (eds), Research Handbook on International Law and Migration, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2014, p. 66. See also IACtHR, Case of Nadege Dorzema et al. v. Dominican Republic, Judgment, 24 October 2012, para. 154; IACtHR, Case of Vélez Loor v. Panama, Series C, No. 218, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment, 23 November 2010.

22 Human Rights Committee, General Comment 15, “The Position of Aliens under the Covenant”, UN Doc. HRI\GEN\1\Rev.1, 1994, paras 1–2, available at: www.refworld.org/docid/45139acfc.html.

23 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 189 UNTS 137, 28 July 1951 (entered into force 22 April 1954).

24 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 606 UNTS 267, 31 January 1967 (entered into force 4 October 1967).

25 UNHCR, Advisory Opinion on the Extraterritorial Application of Non-Refoulement Obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, 26 January 2007, available at www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?docid=45f17a1a4.

26 V. Chetail, above note 21, pp. 37–38.

27 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 2220 UNTS 3, 18 December 1990, Arts 7, 8.

28 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 UNTS 3, 20 November 1989, Art. 10.

29 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 660 UNTS 195, 7 March 1966, Art. 5(d)(ii).

30 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1465 UNTS 85, 10 December 1984.

31 Ibid., Art. 3.

32 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2237 UNTS 319, 15 November 2000, Preamble.

33 See IACtHR, Vélez Loor, above note 21. See also IACtHR, Dorzema, above note 21.

34 See IACtHR, Juridical Condition and Rights of Undocumented Migrants, Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, 17 September 2003.

35 See WGEID, Study on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/30/38/Add.5, 9 July 2015. See also WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Mission to Mexico, UN Doc. A/HRC/19/58/Add.2, 20 December 2011, para. 69. People living in poverty whose exercise of economic, social and cultural rights is curtailed are more likely to become victims of enforced disappearance.

36 See the references cited in note 35. See also IOM, above note 6.

37 See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, UN Doc. A/65/222, 3 August 2010, para. 15. See also Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, UN Doc. A/71/384, 13 September 2016, para. 53.

38 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, François Crépeau, UN Doc. A/HRC/20/24, 2 April 2012.

39 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, above note 37, paras 19, 31. See also Report of Special Rapporteur François Crépeau, above note 38, paras 8, 13.

40 Price, Matthew E., Rethinking Asylum: History, Purpose, and Limits, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

41 On the subject of bilateral cooperation between Argentina and Paraguay, see, for example: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB514/docs/Doc%2001%20-%20r186f1573%20-%201580.pdf.

42 Lessa, Francesca, “Justice Beyond Borders: The Operation Condor Trial and Accountability for Transnational Crimes in South America”, International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2015CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dinges, John, The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents, New Press, New York, 2004Google Scholar; McSherry, J. Patrice, Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2005Google Scholar.

43 IACtHR, Case of Gelman v. Uruguay, Series C, No. 221, Merits and Reparations, Judgment, 24 February 2011; IACtHR, Case of Goiburú et al. v. Paraguay, Series C, No. 153, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment, 22 September 2006, paras 61.5–61.8.

44 See, for example, Human Rights Committee, Case of Sergio Ruben Lopez Burgos v. Uruguay, Communication No. R.12/52, UN Doc. A/36/40, 6 June 1979.

45 See WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1435, 1980, para. 152; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1492, 1981, Annex VIII, para. 10.2; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1984/21, 1983, para. 102; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1985/15, 1984, para. 236; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/79, 2001, para. 42; ibid., para. 328; WGEID, Annual Report, E/CN.4/2003/70, 2002, paras 30, 293; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/58, 2003, para. 41; ibid., para. 308; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2005/65, 2004, para. 61.

46 See, for example, WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1983/14, 1982, paras 91 ff.; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1435, 1980, paras 156, 173.

47 See WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1435, 1980, para. 166.

48 See WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/36, 1994, para. 249; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/38 and Corr. 1, 1995, para. 280.

49 See WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/79, 2001, para. 246; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/58, 2003, para. 230; WGEID, Annual Report, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/41, 2006, para. 318.

50 See WGEID, 107th Session (14–18 September 2015): Post-Sessional Report, UN Doc. A/HRC/WGEID/107/1, 2015, para. 25.

51 For a general account, see Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, UN Doc. A/HRC/25/63, 7 February 2014.

52 On this subject, see Human Rights Council, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/42, 19 February 2010. This report was a joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism, undertaken by the special rapporteurs on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Working Groups on Arbitrary Detention and Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. For a more general discussion, see Opeskin, Brian R., Perruchoud, Richard and Redpath-Cross, Jillyanne, Foundations of International Migration Law, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012, p. 134CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.46/15, 31 December 2015, p. 179. See also para. 383.

54 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Doc. A/HRC/33/67, 13 October 2016, para. 36; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II Doc 48/13, 30 December 2013, p. 179; UNHCR, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and International Detention Coalition (IDC), Monitoring Immigration Detention: Practical Manual, 2014, pp. 5–20; UNHCR and Alice Edwards, Back to Basics: The Right to Liberty and Security of Person and ‘Alternatives to Detention’ of Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, Stateless Persons and Other Migrants, April 2011, p. 1.

55 UNHCR and A. Edwards, above note 54, p. 1.

56 Ibid.; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.46/15, 31 December 2015.

57 Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW), “General Comment No. 2 on the Rights of Migrant Workers in an Irregular Situation and Members of Their Families”, UN Doc. CMW/C/GC/2, 28 August 2013, para. 24; UNHCR and A. Edwards, above note 54, p. 3.

58 IACtHR, Vélez Loor, above note 21, para. 170.

59 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc.46/15, 31 December 2015, p. 179; see also para. 383.

60 UNHCR, APT and IDC, above note 54, p. 21.

61 Global Detention Project, The Uncounted: Detention of Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Europe, 17 December 2015, p. 18. See also Edwards, Alice, “The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and the Detention of Refugees”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2008, p. 809CrossRefGoogle Scholar; UNHCR and A. Edwards, above note 54, p. 41.

62 UNHCR and A. Edwards, above note 54, p. 41.

63 Human Rights Watch, Ad Hoc and Inadequate: Thailand's Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, September 2012, p. 1; Global Detention Project, “Thailand Immigration Detention Profile”, available at: www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/asia-pacific/thailand#_ftnref13.

64 Human Rights Watch, “Russia: Mass Detention of Migrants”, 8 August 2013, available at: www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/08/russia-mass-detention-migrants.

65 IOM, above note 6, p. 113.

66 Ibid., pp. 123–130; United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and OHCHR, Detained and Dehumanised: Report on Human Rights Abuses against Migrants in Libya, 13 December 2016.

67 ICPPED, Art. 17(3).

68 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, Art. 11 (emphasis added). See also ICPPED, Art. 17(3)(h).

69 ICPPED, Art. 17(1).

70 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II Doc 48/13, 30 December 2013, p. 13.

71 Ibid., p. 207; UNHCR and A. Edwards, above note 54, p. 2.

72 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. A/HRC/33/51, 28 July 2016, para. 67; Human Rights Council, Situation of Migrants in Transit, UN Doc. A/HRC/31/35, 27 January 2016, para. 64. See also UNHCR, The Sea Route to Europe: The Mediterranean Passage in the Age of Refugees, Geneva, 1 July 2015, p. 7; International Crisis Group, Easy Prey: Criminal Violence and Central American Migration, Latin America Report No. 57, 2016, p. 10.

73 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1492, 31 December 1981, para. 155.

74 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/56, 27 December 2005, para. 232.

75 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Post-Sessional report, UN Doc. A/HRC/WGEID/112/1, 25 July 2017.

76 Comisión de Observación de Derechos Humanos (CODH), Vulneraciones de derechos humanos en la frontera sur – Melilla, July 2014, p. 15. See also IOM, above note 6, p. 130.

77 Global Detention Project, “Spain Immigration Detention Profile”, 2016, available at: www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/spain.

78 European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, Spanish-Moroccan Land Border in Melilla – a Lawless Zone of Automatic Expulsions, 2015, p. 1; Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe, Third Party Intervention by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, CommDH(2015)26, 2015, para. 11, available at: https://rm.coe.int/16806dac25. See also IOM, above note 6, pp. 130–131.

79 European Court of Human Rights, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, Case No. 27765/09, Judgment, 2012; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, The Haitian Centre for Human Rights et al. v. United States, Case No. 51/96, 1996, paras 167–177.

80 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Mission to Spain, UN Doc. A/HRC/27/49/Add.1, 2 July 2014, para. 54.

81 Human Rights Watch, Abused and Expelled: Ill-Treatment of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco, February 2014, p. 26.

82 See, for example, American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties and Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights (Maria Jimenez), Humanitarian Crisis: Migrant Deaths at the US–Mexico Border, 2009, p. 29. See also Human Rights Watch, Containment Plan: Bulgaria's Pushbacks and Detention of Syrian and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants, 28 April 2014, p. 17.

83 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, Art. 11 (emphasis added). See also ICPPED, Art. 17(3)(h).

84 UN General Assembly, Human Rights of Migrants, UN Doc. A/71/285, 4 August 2016.

85 Oxfam, A Dangerous Game: The Pushback of Migrants, including Refugees, at Europe's Borders, April 2017, p. 4.

86 European Court of Human Rights, Jamaa, above note 79, paras 77–134.

87 See European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Annual Report 2014 – Fundamental Rights: Challenges and Achievements in 2014, 2014, pp. 87–88; Amnesty International, Greece: Frontier of Hope and Fear – Migrants and Refugees Pushed Back at Europe's Border, 2014; Pro Asyl, Pushed Back: Systematic Human Rights Violations against Refugees in the Aegean Sea and at the Greek–Turkish Land Border, 2014.

88 Pro Asyl, above note 87, pp. 27–28; Amnesty International, above note 87, p. 15.

89 Human Rights Watch, above note 82, pp. 2–17.

90 Ibid., p. 3.

91 WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on Its Mission to Turkey, UN Doc. A/HRC/33/51/Add.1, 27 July 2016, para. 55.

92 Ibid., para. 56. See also Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Doc. A/HRC/24/46, 16 July 2013, paras 67–74.

93 It should be noted that “‘[s]muggling of migrants’ shall mean the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State … of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident” for the purposes of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, UNGA Res. 55/25, Annex III, UN General Assembly Official Records, 55th Session, Supp. No. 49, UN Doc. A/45/49, Vol. 1, 2001. The term “‘[t]rafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”. See Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, UNGA Res. 25, Annex II, UN General Assembly Official Records, 55th Session, Supp. No. 49, UN Doc. A/45/49, Vol. 1, 2001, Art. 3(1). See also Kangaspunta, K. and Guth, A., “Trafficking in Persons: Trends and Patterns”, in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Illicit Trade: Converging Criminal Networks, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2016Google Scholar. It should be noted that it is often the case that at some point along the way migrant smuggling turns into migrant trafficking: “What starts out as a simple transaction involving a person seeking the services of a smuggler may end up with the migrant being deceived, coerced or exploited somewhere along the line, given the often unequal power relationships between smugglers and migrants. Therefore a smuggled migrant may quickly and unwillingly become a trafficked person.” See IOM, Migrant Smuggling Data and Research: A Global Review of the Emerging Evidence Base, 2016, p. 6. See also Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors, OEA/Ser.K/XXI.5, CIDIP-V/doc.36/94 rev. 5, 79 OASTS, 18 March 1994; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, UNGA Res. 54/263, Annex II, UN General Assembly Official Records, 54th Session, Supp. No. 49, UN Doc. A/54/49, Vol. 3, 2000.

94 On this subject, see Christine Bruckert and Colette Parent, Trafficking in Human Beings and Organized Crime: A Literature Review, Community, Contract and Aboriginal Policing Services Directorate, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 2002.

95 On this subject, see UNHCR, above note 72, p 7. See also WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, UN Doc. A/HRC/33/51, 28 July 2016, para. 67; Human Rights Council, above note 72; IOM, above note 93, p. 271.

96 On this subject, see UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Issue Paper: Smuggling of Migrants by Sea, Vienna, 2011, p. 20Google Scholar.

97 Ibid. See also IOM, above note 93, pp. 7, 62.

98 IOM, above note 93, pp. 7, 9, 271.

99 Ibid., 2016, p. 63.

100 IOM, above note 6, p. 121.

101 See, for example, ibid., p. 14; IOM, above note 93, pp. 63, 91; Human Rights Watch, Pushed Back, Pushed Around: Italy's Forced Return of Boat Migrants and Asylum Seekers, Libya's Mistreatment of Migrants and Asylum Seekers, 2009, pp. 53, 70, 73; UNSMIL and OHCHR, above note 66, pp. 12, 19.

102 See, for example, Tim Cocks and Edward McAllister, “Africa's Population Boom Fuels ‘Unstoppable’ Migration to Europe”, Reuters, 13 October 2016, available at: www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-africa-analysis-idUSKCN12D1PN. See also IOM, “IOM Learns of ‘Slave Market’ Conditions Endangering Migrants in North Africa”, 11 April 2017, available at: www.iom.int/news/iom-learns-slave-market-conditions-endangering-migrants-north-africa.

103 Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Informe de Actividades 2009, 2010, pp. 14, 26, 30; Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Informe de Actividades 2011, 2012, p. 28. See also CMW, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 74 of the Convention, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families: Mexico, UN Doc. CMW/C/MEX/CO/2, 2011, paras 29, 49.

104 See Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Informe de Actividades 2009, 2010, pp. 15, 26, 30; Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Informe de Actividades 2011, 2012, pp. 27–33. See also Foundation for Justice and the Rule of Law, Disappeared Migrants: The Permanent Torture, Mexico City, 2014, p. 7, available at: http://fundacionjusticia.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Disappeared-migrants.pdf.

105 These include the case of the migrants who went missing in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, in 2011, which received wide media coverage; see Foundation for Justice and the Rule of Law, above note 104, p. 5. See also Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II Doc 48/13, 30 December 2013, p. 81; CMW, above note 103, para. 29; Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, Informe especial sobre los casos de secuestro en contra de migrantes, 2009, p. 14.

106 On this subject, see Fortify Rights, “Myanmar: Authorities Complicit in Rohingya Trafficking, Smuggling”, 2014, available at: www.fortifyrights.org/publication-20141107.html. See also Kathleen Newland, “Irregular Maritime Migration in the Bay of Bengal: The Challenges of Protection, Management and Cooperation”, Issue in Brief, No. 13, IOM and Migration Policy Institute, 2015, available at: http://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mpi-iom_brief_no_13.pdf.

107 Enforced disappearance is a continuing crime that ends only when the disappearance itself is resolved – that is, when the victim is located or the State provides a satisfactory explanation as to his or her fate. On this subject, see WGEID, “General Comment on Enforced Disappearance as a Continuous Crime”, available at: www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/GC-EDCC.pdf.

108 On the subject of the impunity of those responsible for the disappearance of migrants in Mexico, for example, see WGEID, Mission to Mexico, above note 35, para. 69. See also CMW, above note 103, paras 29, 31. See also Foundation for Justice and the Rule of Law, above note 104, p. 6.

109 See, for example, IOM, Fatal Journeys, Vol. 2: Identification and Tracing of Dead and Missing Migrants, Geneva, 2016, pp. 20, 33, 36Google Scholar. See also CMW, above note 103, paras 29, 31.

110 Readers are invited to consult this report for further information on the conclusions and recommendations formulated by the WGEID; see WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on Enforced Disappearances in the Context of Migration, UN Doc. A/HRC/36/39/Add.2, 28 July 2017.

111 OHCHR, “Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Commission on Human Rights Resolution: 2004/40”, 19 April 2004, available at: www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/E-CN.4-RES-2004-40.pdf.

112 Some civil society organizations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have stressed the importance of inter-State cooperation in this area and have documented the obstacles facing migrants and their families in their pursuit of the truth. See Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/II Doc 48/13, 30 December 2013, pp. 75 ff. See also Foundation for Justice and the Rule of Law, above note 104, p. 19.

113 See, for example, Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Unlawful Death of Refugees and Migrants, UN Doc. A/72/335, 2017.