27/08/2026 President
On the occasion of the International day of the victims of enforced disappearance (30 August), and twenty years after the adoption of the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, PACE President Petra Bayr is urging the 18 Council of Europe member states that are not yet parties to join it – helping to clarify the fates of those who have vanished and enable their families to obtain truth and justice.
“People disappear all over the world, for many reasons – kidnapped, secretly detained, simply ‘made to vanish’ or perhaps killed in secret, while their fate and whereabouts remain unknown,” said the President. “When a state may have been involved, helping their families to find out what happened – and holding those responsible to account – is a humanitarian duty for all of us,” she said.
“Since 2012 a UN expert body has been pressing governments to clarify the fate of individuals when families seek their help, looking at evidence, visiting the countries concerned. Of more than 2,000 requests to it for urgent action, around a quarter have been closed following the location of the disappeared person, but in April 2025 there were still 1,495 active cases,” she added.
“Yet, regrettably, not all Council of Europe member states support this vital work. On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, I urge the seven member states that have neither signed nor ratified the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances to do so without delay, and the eleven that have signed it to proceed swiftly with ratification.”
“This is an obvious and urgent issue of fundamental human rights – and, as a 2022 Assembly resolution pointed out, our region is no stranger to it. The fate of missing persons, including civilians and children, resulting from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, is a painful reminder of this reality. We in the Council of Europe should be giving our full support to those who carry out this work – not holding back. It is time to help these families and do the right thing.”
Council of Europe member states that have neither signed nor ratified the Convention are: Andorra, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, San Marino, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. Those that have signed but not ratified the Convention are: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Moldova, Monaco, North Macedonia, Romania and Sweden.