It made the call in the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, a date which was first commemorated in 2011, a year after the UN General Assembly established it after warning over an increase in involuntary disappearances in several regions of the world.

The forum was concerned about the increase in arrests, detentions and abductions as well as the number of reports of harassment, ill-treatment and intimidation of witnesses of disappearances or family members.

The United Nations rejects the use of this practice to instill terror in citizens while warning of the consequences on the direct victims, their families and the community. According to the organization, hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared during conflicts or periods of repression in at least 85 countries around the world.

To mark the date, the UN considers human rights advocates, victims’ relatives, witnesses and lawyers handling cases to be particularly vulnerable.

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