A/HRC/13/31 independent investigation into a series of killings of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists in recent years. 37. On 7 July 2009, the Working Group issued a press released jointly with five other special procedures mechanisms calling upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to uphold its international obligations to ensure that the human rights of all individuals were protected following the presidential elections in the country. 38. To commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared, which is observed by civil society, the Working Group issued a press release on 30 August 2009, expressing its concern at the measures being taken by Governments while countering terrorism and the implications for enforced disappearances, and stressed that arrests committed during military operations, arbitrary detentions and extraordinary renditions “can amount to enforced disappearances”. The experts called upon States to take measures to promote truth and reconciliation, which ought not to be used as a substitute for bringing perpetrators to justice. The Working Group called upon Governments to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to accept the competence of the Committee-to-be under articles 31 and 32 of the Convention. G. General comments on enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity 39. As a result of the development of international law, the Working Group is working on a series of general comments, including on enforced disappearance as a continuous crime and continuous human rights violation. In 2009, the Working Group finalized a general comment on enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity, which was adopted at its eighty-seventh session: General comment on enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity Preamble The 1992 Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances affirms the connection between enforced disappearances and crimes against humanity. It states, in the fourth preambular paragraph, that the “systematic practice [of enforced disappearances] is by its very nature a crime against humanity”. The Working Group considers that this provision needs to be interpreted in the view of legal developments which have occurred since 1992. Based on the foregoing, the Working Group has decided to issue the following general comment: General comment 1. The notion of crimes against humanity has been recognized for a long time in international law. The connection between enforced disappearances and crimes against humanity was explicitly acknowledged in the 1983 Resolution 666 (XIII0/83) of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, which described the practice of enforced disappearances per se, as a crime against humanity: in other words, any act of enforced disappearance is considered, according to this text, to be a crime against humanity. 10 GE.09-17704