A/HRC/19/58 I. Introduction 1. The Working Group was the first United Nations human rights thematic mechanism to be established with a universal mandate. The original mandate derives from Commission on Human Rights resolution 20 (XXXVI) of 29 February 1980. This resolution followed General Assembly resolution 33/173 of 20 December 1978, in which the Assembly expressed concern at reports from various parts of the world relating to enforced disappearances and requested the Commission on Human Rights to consider the question of missing or disappeared persons. The mandate was most recently extended by Human Rights Council resolution 16/16 of 24 March 2011. 2. The primary task of the Working Group is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reportedly disappeared. In this humanitarian capacity, the Working Group serves as a channel of communication between family members of victims of enforced disappearance and others connected to the disappeared person, and Governments. 3. Following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 47/133 on 18 December 1992 and of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Working Group was entrusted to monitor the progress of States in fulfilling their obligations derived from the Declaration. Human Rights Council resolution 7/12 encouraged the Working Group to provide assistance in the implementation by States of the Declaration and of existing international rules. 4. Based on its experience of over thirty years, the Working Group has decided to amend the way in which its statistics are counted so that, in exceptional circumstances and for humanitarian reasons, cases may be included in the statistics of a different State from the one in which the enforced disappearance occurred. In addition, the Working Group has decided to deal with all enforced disappearances, regardless of the type of armed conflict that they occurred in. The revised methods of work, approved on 11 November 2011, are contained in annex I to the present report and will come into effect on 1 January 2012. 5. This report reflects communications and cases examined by the Working Group during its three sessions in 2011, covering the period 13 November 2010 to 11 November 2011. 6. A summary of activities during the reporting period is presented in a table for each country, with a detailed text description of the areas of activity. Where there has been no information from the Government or the sources, notwithstanding the annual reminder sent by the Working Group concerning outstanding cases, only the table is provided and a reference is made to the previous report dealing with those cases. 7. For States where the number of newly-reported cases is less than ten, the names of the persons appear in that State’s section. If the number of newly-reported cases is greater than ten, the list of names appears in annex V. For urgent actions, the names of all persons, regardless of the number, appear in the relevant State’s section. 8. The total number of cases transmitted by the Working Group to Governments since its inception is 53,778. The number of cases under active consideration that have not yet been clarified, closed or discontinued stands at 42,759 in a total of 82 States. The Working Group has been able to clarify 448 cases over the past five years. 9. The Working Group expresses its strong objection to the decision of the United Nations Secretariat not to grant a waiver to the 10,700 word limit to the present report, as has been the case for almost every year since such a limit was imposed by the General Assembly in 1993. 7