A/HRC/33/51
Disappearances occurring during the detention of migrants27 or the execution
of deportation procedures
(ii)
58.
The study will also take into consideration instances where migrants disappear while
they are detained or during the execution of deportation procedures. Indeed, migrants who
are captured in a transit or destination State, and detained under administrative or criminal
proceedings, may sometimes disappear. This could be in part be due to the lack of
transparency or to the secrecy of such detention, and the very limited access to the justice
system that migrants often have in this context.28 The Group will address how
disappearances can occur in such contexts, as well as during the execution of deportations.
59.
Similarly, many cases were reported where migrants were deported to their State of
origin or another State, where they face enforced or involuntary disappearances or where
they risk being subjected to that practice, in contravention of the international law principle
of non-refoulement.29 In that process, it has been observed that formal deportation
procedures, including the assessment of risk of persecution in the country of origin, are
sometimes not duly respected and, as a result, migrants are not registered and are unable to
lodge asylum claims.
(iii)
Enforced disappearances of migrants by private actors acting on behalf of,
or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the State
60.
There have been a number of reported cases of disappearances of migrants while
they transit in a third State or upon arrival in the State of destination (see
CED/C/MEX/CO/1, paras. 23-24).30 In some instances, migrants are arrested and detained
by State agents (migration officers or security forces) and later disappeared. In other
instances, captured migrants are delivered by State agents to private actors, often members
of organized criminal groups and, as such, are also the object of enforced disappearances,
often trapped in trafficking networks for the purpose of economic or sexual exploitation.
(c)
Factors that contribute to the enforced disappearances of migrants
61.
The Working Group will analyse in greater detail factors that contribute to enforced
disappearances of migrants, including them being exposed to greater situations of
vulnerability and to multiple forms of discrimination and the impact of State migratory and
security policies, as well as the existence of obstacles in the search for justice and truth
regarding such human rights violations.
(i)
Vulnerability and discrimination
62.
The Working Group highlighted the particular vulnerability of migrants to enforced
disappearances in past reports, in particular due to obstacles facing the judicial protection of
their rights, as well as the irregular nature of their migration status (see
A/HRC/19/58/Add.2, para. 69).
63.
Some migrants enter irregularly and are thus not recorded, and others enter in a
regular manner but remain unaccounted for because of the lack of procedures established at
the borders of many countries. That is exacerbated by the lack of effective laws and
protection programmes, as well as ineffective judicial remedies available to them (see
27
28
29
30
10
See A/HRC/20/24.
See, similarly, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Human Rights of migrants and other
persons in the context of human mobility in Mexico”, OEA/Ser.L/V/II Doc48/13 (2013), p. 42.
See art. 8 of the Declaration.
See also A/HRC/33/53/Add.1, para. 14.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents