A/HRC/36/39 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 31 July 2017 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-sixth session 11-29 September 2017 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* Note by the Secretariat The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, prepared pursuant to Council resolution 7/12. The Working Group was established by resolution 20 (XXXVI) of the Commission on Human Rights and its mandate was most recently extended by the Council in its resolution 27/1. The mandate of the Working Group is to assist the families of disappeared persons in ascertaining the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared relatives, to 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 56,363 cases to 112 States. The number of cases under active consideration stands at 45,120 in a total of 91 States. During the reporting period, 130 cases were clarified. In its report, the Working Group provides information on activities carried out and communications and cases examined from 19 May 2016 to 17 May 2017. The report includes a section with the main findings and observations on the issue of enforced disappearances in the context of migration, the subject of a thematic study submitted as an addendum to the present report (see A/HRC/36/39/Add.2). * The annexes to the present report are circulated as received, in the language of submission only. 1 GE.17-13050(E) 