A/HRC/42/40 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 30 July 2019 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-second session 9–27 September 2019 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances*, ** Summary The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was established pursuant to resolution 20 (XXXVI) of the Commission on Human Rights and its mandate was most recently extended by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 36/6. The mandate of the Working Group is to assist families of disappeared persons to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared relatives, to assist and monitor States’ compliance with their obligations deriving from the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and to provide States with assistance in the prevention and eradication of enforced disappearances. Since its inception in 1980, the Working Group has transmitted a total of 57,891 cases to 108 States. The number of cases under active consideration that have not yet been clarified, closed or discontinued stands at 45,811 in a total of 92 States. During the reporting period, 406 cases were clarified. The present report reflects the activities of and communications and cases examined by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances from 3 May 2018 to 22 May 2019. * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitter’s control. ** The annexes to the present report are reproduced as received, in the language of submission only. GE.19-12966(E) *1912966*