A/HRC/45/13/Add.3 Human Rights Committee did not called for specific forensic commissions. Yet, the Human Rights Committee considered establishing central databases and platforms documenting reported disappearances, along with regular actions that assist family members in locating the disappeared persons.254 123. The Inter-American Court stated in Gomes-Lund et al. (“Guerrilha do Araguaia”) v. Brazil (paragraph 211): “It is essential that, in order to guarantee the right to information, the public powers act in good faith and diligently carry out the necessary actions to assure the effectiveness of this right, particularly when it deals with the right to the truth of what occurred in cases of gross violations of human rights such as those of enforced disappearances and the extrajudicial execution in this case. To argue in a judicial proceeding, as was done in this case, the lack of evidence regarding the existence of certain information, without at least noting what procedures were carried out to confirm the nonexistence of said information, allows for the discretional and arbitrary actions of the State to provide said information, thereby creating legal uncertainty regarding the exercise of said right. (…) (paragraph 212) Based on the preceding considerations, the Court concluded that the State violated the right to seek and receive information enshrined in Article 13 of the American Convention.” 124. The “Forensic Commission to Identify Remains” established in Mexico in August 2013, created pursuant to an agreement among the Office of the Attorney General of Mexico, civil society organisations representing relatives of missing persons from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), is in charge of identifying the mortal remains found in three mass graves related to massacres of migrants perpetrated in 2011 and returning the remains to families. This allowed families of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance to be involved in investigations and to rely on independent professionals.255 125. In July 2005, the Guatemalan Office of the Prosecutor for Human Rights (PDH) discovered around 80 million documents by the National Police concerning the period of Guatemalan conflict. The PDH adopted steps to preserve the documentation and to enable access and consultation by the public. On the basis of evidence contained in the archives, an investigation regarding two members of the National Police responsible for the enforced disappearance of a trade unionist and an university student in 1984 was carried out which led to their identification, arrest, prosecution and sentencing to 40 years’ imprisonment.256 126. In the Western Balkans, the establishment of centralised DNA databases has greatly enhanced the search and identification of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance in the region. Although the archives of the Ministry of Defence are kept secret in Serbia, a positive example regarding obtaining access to military archives or to documentation covered by State secrecy laws concerns the opening of the archives of the Serbian Ministry of Interior in 2013.257 127. In Portugal, despite the absence of a specialised unit to investigate enforced disappearances, such cases are investigated by the Judicial Police, which disposes of a forensic lab and a unit for psychosocial support, both with specialized staff. The Judicial Police can request the support of the National Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences with competencies in the area of forensics, anthropology and psychology.258 128. In Tajikistan, in relation to the exhumation of burial sites and identification of remains, the Working Group regretted that Tajikistan has limited forensic capabilities, and disposes only of one small facility for DNA analysis. The Working Group, therefore, recommended the establishment of a DNA bank of affected families, with appropriate guarantees on reprisals and confidentiality for families coming forward and with external assistance if required. Moreover, training for forensic officials on international standards, 254 255 256 257 258 CCPR/C/79/Add.95 para. 10. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Preliminary observations on the IACHR visit to Mexico, 2 October 2015, available at http://bit.ly/1Ssgiiv. See A/HRC/16/48/Add.2. A/HRC/30/38/Add.1, para. 37. Portugal, Submission to WGEID, March 2019, p. 5. 43