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Global voices unite at the first World Congress on Enforced Disappearances

in Geneva, Switzerland, by the Convention against Enforced Disappearances Initiative, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and UN Human Rights, the first World Congress on Enforced Disappearances united 720 participants from more than 120 countries and 1,392 attendees online.

The event, which primarily gathered relatives of the disappeared, provided a platform to share experiences, challenges, and best practices. It also marked a crucial step in shaping a collective path toward justice, truth, reparation, and the prevention of future disappearances.

“Families of the disappeared connected together, formed a regional movement, a global coalition,” said Olivier de Frouville, Chair of the CED. “[For years] they advocated for the right, the adoption and then the ratification of the Convention.”

De Frouville stated that nearly 20 years after the Convention's adoption, the first World Congress aimed to reinvigorate the global movement.

“Enforced disappearances are a human tragedy — trapping the disappeared and their families in fear and uncertainty,” said UN Human Rights Deputy High Commissioner, Nada Al-Nashif in her keynote speech.

She stressed that victims’ voices must remain central to all efforts and pledged UN support to ensure the effective implementation of international agreements like the Convention against Enforced Disappearances.

“Last month in Syria, the terrible suffering caused by enforced disappearance was brought to the world’s attention as thousands of detainees, whose fate or whereabouts were unknown, were released from prisons,” Al-Nashif said.

However, over 100,000 people’s whereabouts remain undetermined, she added.

“Not knowing what has happened to a disappeared relative places an intolerable burden on those left behind,” said Jens Modvig, Chair of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, which has provided crucial medical, psychological, legal and humanitarian support to survivors of torture, including victims of enforced disappearance and their relatives, for over 40 years in more than 140 countries.

Modvig highlighted the interconnectedness of enforced disappearances and torture, noting that people who are disappeared are often tortured, but that also the relatives of enforced disappeared persons may be considered primary victims of torture.