A/HRC/10/28 page 8 (d) Issues relating to the tracing of missing persons, provisions pertaining to the issuing of identity cards or similar documents, determining the authority in charge of tracing missing persons, setting up a national information bureau to work with the national missing persons authority and the registry of information on missing persons, submitting tracing requests, beginning and ending tracing, access to information on missing persons and protecting data; (e) The rights of the deceased, covering such matters as the obligation to search for and recover the dead, the registration of deaths, the handling of mortal remains, burials and exhumations, and the handling of unidentified remains; (f) A chapter on criminal liability setting out the acts that must be recognized as criminal offences under national legislation, and a mechanism for prosecutions; (g) A section devoted to specifying the authority in charge and another to final provisions. 21. The model legislation comprises 27 articles accompanied by commentaries and three annexes: a model certificate of absence, a model certificate of death, and references to provisions of international humanitarian law. 22. With regard to assistance to States, the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe has produced a draft recommendation on principles concerning missing persons and the presumption of death, according to which, a fair balance must be struck between the interests of missing persons and of those left behind as well as others with a legitimate interest, particularly with regard to the latter’s legitimate interests relating to property and inheritance rights, pension and life insurance rights, the right to enter into a new union (marriage, registered partnership or similar union), parentage and parental rights, and so on. Furthermore, the introduction of the concepts of disappearance and of presumption of death or, as the case may be, the improvement of the existing legislation on this topic, is considered to be of great benefit, in particular for family members who are left behind, as it would clarify their legal position and status. 23. According to the Council of Europe draft recommendation, death is the precondition for the application of the law of succession, for the existence of an inheritance, a testator and an heir, and also for the payment of a survivor’s pension or a life insurance policy. Death also automatically terminates marriage (including registered partnerships or similar unions in some Member States) and the corresponding system of marital/partnership property, enabling the survivor to enter into a new relationship without any risk of bigamy. 24. The draft recommendation aims at providing Governments of Member States with assistance in dealing with cases of missing persons. The text is without prejudice to legal obligations of Member States under international humanitarian law or international human rights law and should not be construed as a pretext for easily declaring someone dead. Its principles could be of use in a post-conflict situation, particularly for those with a legitimate interest in declaring someone dead.