A/HRC/45/13/Add.1 65. However, in practice, short-term enforced disappearance following initial apprehension continues to be the norm and a robust course of action to counter acts of enforced disappearances and torture is still lacking. A concerted effort is needed to eradicate that practice and to raise awareness of enforced disappearance among all stakeholders, including in the different branches and at the different levels of Government and among legal professionals. 66. Victims of violations, their family members and human rights defenders, including lawyers, continue to face reprisals from State authorities for speaking out. The Working Group observed extensive self-censorship and fear. Urgent steps are needed to reverse that extremely concerning trend. 67. The Working Group reiterates its willingness to continue a constructive dialogue with the Government and offers support for the full implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 68. The Working Group reaffirms its solidarity with the victims of enforced disappearance and their families, as well as with civil society and lawyers who continue to advocate for human rights in difficult circumstances. VII. Recommendations 69. In light of the above, the Working recommendations to the Government of Tajikistan. Group makes the following 70. Concerning enforced disappearances as the legacy of civil war, the Government should: (a) Adopt, as a matter of urgency, a truth-seeking State policy and develop specific mechanisms, supported by dedicated resources, for dealing with disappearances caused by and related to the civil war. That should include the creation of a national register to collect information on, and the search for, forcibly disappeared persons, the mapping and conservation of burial sites, and the exhumation, identification and return to families of identified remains; (b) Ensure full access to the register by relatives of the disappeared, lawyers, human rights defenders and any other concerned person; (c) Promptly complete the planned DNA laboratory in Dushanbe and further strengthen forensic capacities and training for staff on international standards, such as the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death; (d) Establish a DNA bank of affected families with appropriate guarantees on reprisals and confidentiality for families coming forward, with external assistance if required; (e) Introduce certificates of absence that enable family members to complete the necessary administrative procedures; (f) Create a programme to provide full reparation to all families of enforced disappearance and consider requesting international support in that regard; (g) Create a memorial day specifically for all victims of the civil war and other violent incidents and erect national local monuments to remember disappeared persons, in consultation with the victims’ families and other stakeholders; (h) Consider starting exchanges with other post-conflict States that have successfully employed mechanisms developed within the concept of transitional justice. 71. Concerning the legislative and institutional framework, the Government should: (a) Introduce a specific prohibition against enforced disappearance in the Criminal Code, punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account its extreme seriousness. That should include: (i) Various modes of criminal liability, including in relation to any person who commits, orders, solicits or induces the commission of, attempts to commit, is an accomplice to or participates in an enforced disappearance; 15