United Nations
General Assembly
A/HRC/RES/21/7
Distr.: General
10 October 2012
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Twenty-first session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
21/7.
Right to the truth
The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Conventions of
12 August 1949 and Additional Protocols I and II thereto of 1977, and other relevant
instruments of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as well as
the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,
Recognizing the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of
civil political, economic, social and cultural rights,
Recalling article 32 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949 relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, which
recognizes the right of families to know the fate of their relatives,
Recalling also that article 33 of Additional Protocol I provides that the parties to an
armed conflict shall search for the persons who have been reported missing by an adverse
party as soon as circumstances permit,
Recalling further the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/177 of
20 December 2006, article 24 (2) of which sets out the right of victims to know the truth
regarding the circumstances of the enforced disappearance, the progress and results of the
investigation and the fate of the disappeared person, and sets forth State party obligations to
take appropriate measures in this regard, and the preamble to the Convention, which
reaffirms the right to freedom to seek, receive and impart information to that end, and
welcoming the entry into force of the Convention on 23 December 2010,
GE.12-17361
The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in
the report of the Council on its twenty-first session (A/HRC/21/2), chap. I.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents