United Nations General Assembly A/HRC/45/13/Add.3 Distr.: General 7 August 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fifth session 14 September–2 October 2020 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on standards and public policies for an effective investigation of enforced disappearances*, ** Summary The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on standards and public policies for an effective investigation of enforced disappearances. In the report, the Working Group draws the attention of the international community to impunity as a distinctive trait of enforced disappearances. It continues to observe alarming patterns of impunity, both in relation to past acts of enforced disappearance and to new disappearances occurring in different parts of the world. Impunity can have a multiplying effect, which causes additional suffering and anguish to the victims and their families. The Working Group believes that the international community should not stand neutral in the face of such suffering. Instead, it must strengthen cooperation efforts, increase the assistance available to victims and pursue judicial investigations and prosecutions both at the local and international levels. The distinctive components of an enforced disappearance – in particular, the participation of State agents and the attempts to conceal information and cover up the crime – necessitate that investigations be carried out with the requisite independence and autonomy. Delays in investigations are usually the result of multiple obstacles faced during judicial proceedings, including the destruction or loss of evidence and the passing of the perpetrators, victims and witnesses. Such obstacles may lead to de facto impunity. The Working Group concludes that an effective investigation of enforced disappearances must include information about the whereabouts and the fates of the disappeared persons, the circumstances of their disappearance and the identity of the perpetrators. Such an investigation is not only required by the State’s international obligations, but it is also the best way to effectively combat impunity and to realize the * Agreement was reached to publish the present report after the standard publication date owing to circumstances beyond the submitters’ control. ** The annex to the present document is being circulated as received, in the language of submission only. GE.20-10542(E) *2010542*