International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances , also called Missing Persons Day , is celebrated on August 30 of each year. It is proclaimed in order to draw public attention to the fate of persons in custody whose whereabouts are unknown to their relatives and / or legal representatives. The initiative to proclaim this date came in 1983 from the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Detainees-Disappeared (Federación Latinoamericana de Asociaciones de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos, FEDEFAM [1] ), a non-governmental organization founded in 1981 in Costa Rica and unifying groups that actively fought against secret imprisonment , enforced disappearances and abduction in a number of Latin American countries .
The fight against secret imprisonment is an important part of the work of a number of international organizations and non-governmental organizations in the area of human rights and humanitarian assistance, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR ) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and also Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders .
International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances is an opportunity to once again highlight the work of these organizations, raise public awareness, call for donations and the work of volunteers and volunteers.
Among these organizations, the ICRC stands out. He has special privileges because of his status as a non-state sovereign entity and his strictest policy of neutrality. In some cases, the ICRC is the only organization that has access to certain groups of prisoners, which ensures a minimum level of contact with them and control over the provision of medical care. Often, messages transmitted by the ICRC are the only information about the fate of prisoners for relatives and friends.
Visits to persons detained in connection with armed conflict and allowing them to restore and maintain contact with their families [2] are a very important part of the ICRC’s mandate. However, the concept of missing or missing goes far beyond the scope of victims of enforced disappearance. It includes all those whose families have lost contact as a result of conflicts, natural disasters, or other tragedies.
Imprisonment in secret or uncertain circumstances is a gross violation of human rights , and in the event of armed conflict, also international humanitarian law . The UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as resolution 47/133 of December 18, 1992 [3] .
The number of disappearances in unknown circumstances amounts to tens of thousands and is practiced in many countries. In particular, the OHCHR working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances estimates the number of such countries as forty-six [4] .
On August 30, 2008, the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances [5] , which brings together family members and human rights organizations from around the world, joined forces to host a global event to promote wider ratification of the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced disappearances .