A/HRC/45/30 many others go unrecorded. 19 The death or disappearance of migrants along precarious migration routes represents a human rights protection gap that affects the migrant victims, their families and communities. Victims and their families are entitled to justice and redress, and may require psychosocial, administrative and social support, including for the identification of remains and the repatriation of the bodies of loved ones.20 In its resolution 74/148, the General Assembly called upon States to cooperate to save lives and prevent migrant deaths or injuries, including through individual or joint search and rescue operations, and to identify the bodies of missing migrants and facilitate communication with their families. Similarly, in the Global Compact for Migration, States assumed a collective responsibility to preserve the lives of all migrants in accordance with international law and, to realize this commitment, stressed the importance of reviewing migration laws and policies to ensure that they do not create or exacerbate the risk of migrants dying or disappearing and the importance of making all efforts to recover, identify and repatriate the remains of deceased migrants to their countries of origin. 18. There have been reports of migrants being killed and disappeared by State and nonState actors, including by immigration and border officials. 21 The total number of migrants that have died or gone missing from immigration detention is unknown, as authorities may fail to properly register migrants or allow them access to friends, loved ones, humanitarian workers or legal aid providers.22 So far in 2020, there have been several reports of COVID19-related deaths in immigration detention and concerns expressed that, without an urgent reduction in the number of people in immigration detention, the consequences could be catastrophic.23 19. The clarification of the fate and whereabouts of missing migrants requires competent and coordinated efforts, including to search, investigate and provide access to justice and redress for victims; to provide consular services and protection; to improve information exchange and communication between migrants and their families; to collect and share data in accordance with the right to privacy and data protection; and to establish protocols for the safe return of the bodies of deceased migrants to their families. 24 Monitoring mechanisms enabling the review and adaptation of policies, laws and practices to prevent migrants from going missing remain weak in a number of regions, particularly where migration policies seek to shift protection responsibilities by externalizing or outsourcing border management to third countries or private actors with weak human rights records.25 B. Progress made in protecting the human rights of migrants through the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration 20. The adoption of the Global Compact for Migration in December 2018 was a landmark event and a key step towards enhanced, human rights-based cooperation on international migration. It reflects and reinforces States’ existing obligations under international law, including international human rights law. Based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the nine core international human rights instruments and holding human rights as a guiding principle, the Global Compact for Migration commits States to ensuring effective respect for and protection and fulfilment of the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, at all stages of migration. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 See https://missingmigrants.iom.int/. See General Assembly resolution 60/147. See also OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders (Geneva), p. 9. A/72/335. See, for example, United Nations Support Mission in Libya and OHCHR, Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the Human Rights Situation of Migrants and Refugees in Libya (2018). OHCHR, “Urgent action needed to prevent COVID-19 ‘rampaging through places of detention’ – Bachelet”, 25 March 2020. International Committee of the Red Cross and others, Clarifying the Fate and Whereabouts of Missing Migrants: Exchanging Information about Migratory Routes (Geneva, 2019), p. 8. International Organization for Migration, Fatal Journeys, p. 36. 5