UN experts call for global rules to immediately locate missing persons

Two United Nations (UN) expert groups on Friday called on member states to establish and activate protocols for immediate search of missing persons across the world.

They made the remarks while speaking ahead of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances which will fall on Aug. 30.

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances urged governments to activate all means of search of disappeared persons in a systematic way.

"Over the last year, we have been working on 246 recent cases of enforced disappearances perpetrated all over the world, these cases are nevertheless only the tip of the iceberg of thousands of cases which are never reported," a statement from the UN groups said.

According to the UN experts, following the activation of the urgent actions procedures by the Working Group and the Committee on Enforced Disappearances over the last year, 13 disappeared persons were found alive, in detention, and sadly two were found dead.

"We call upon governments to take action as soon as a case of disappearance is reported to the authorities and all necessary measures to seek and find the disappeared person and to avoid irreparable harm," the statement noted.

Source: XINHUA