A/HRC/45/13/Add.1 34. The Working Group received information that some individuals may have disappeared in Afghanistan, to where at least 60,000 people fled during the conflict,4 and where captured soldiers of the government forces were sometimes taken. After the signing of the truce in 1997, the sides exchanged prisoners, but some members of the government forces were allegedly disappeared inside Afghan territory. As far the Working Group is aware, there have been no full investigations regarding the fate and whereabouts of those individuals. 35. The Working Group was told repeatedly by officials that everyone in the country wanted to move on from the civil war period and not reopen that chapter of history, and indeed, it received some information indicating that part of Tajik society agreed with that approach. Nevertheless, the Working Group received reports of many families that would like to receive information about the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared relatives, but were fearful to come forward. It also received reports of the existence of some groups of relatives who continued trying to find information about those who remained unaccounted for and had requested exhumations of mass graves. In some cases, such groups had reportedly faced pressure from the authorities to stop their search. The Working Group received reports of one incident in which individuals had themselves tried to dig up remains in one of the alleged burial sites. The Working Group had asked to travel to Khatlon region to discuss those issues with the regional authorities and other stakeholders, but its request for those meetings was not granted. It did not seek to engage with the groups of relatives owing to the risk of reprisals and the atmosphere of fear surrounding disappearances from that period. 36. The Working Group regrets to conclude that there have been no efforts to ensure that the relatives are able to know the truth about the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared. The Working Group reminds the Government of its obligation to investigate allegations of enforced disappearances, both under human rights law, including article 23 of the Declaration, and customary international humanitarian law. 5 Each victim, including affected family members of a disappeared person, has the right to know the truth about violations that affected him or her, but the truth also has to be told at the level of society as a “vital safeguard against the recurrence of violations” (A/HRC/16/48, p. 13). The right to truth means the right to know about the progress in and the results of an investigation, the fate or whereabouts of disappeared persons, the circumstances of the disappearance, and the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators. The right of the relatives to know the truth about the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared persons is an absolute right, not subject to any limitation or derogation. No legitimate aim or exceptional circumstances may be invoked by the State to restrict that right. Furthermore, the Working Group emphasizes that the anguish and sorrow caused to the families reaches the threshold of torture. The blanket inaction and State-led efforts to enforce collective silence and forgetting are clearly in flagrant breach of the families’ right to the truth. 37. The Working Group calls on the Government to acknowledge the suffering of families who have no information on the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared relatives more than 20 years on. The Government should adopt a truth-seeking State policy and develop specific mechanisms, supported by dedicated resources, for dealing with disappearances caused by and related to the civil war. That should include the creation of a national register to collect information on disappeared persons, the search for, mapping and conservation of burial sites, and the exhumation, identification and return to families of identified remains. The Government should guarantee that there will be no reprisals against or harassment of families that come forward with information about the disappeared. That process should include collaboration with independent partners who could provide the relevant and specialized expertise required to build trust and help prevent and monitor reprisals. The Working Group emphasizes that such processes should begin as a matter of urgency as, with the passage of time, memories are fading, individuals, places and events are more difficult to identify, and evidence is at risk of being lost. The Working Group welcomes the indications from the Government that it supports the recommendations concerning the creation of a national register to collect information on disappeared persons, 4 5 See www.unhcr.org/research/evalreports/3bd420b54/review-unhcr-activities-tajikistan.html. See International Committee of the Red Cross study on customary international humanitarian law, rules 98 and 117. 9