The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee has adopted without a vote Azerbaijan’s resolution on missing persons. The document was approved on November 10 at the committee’s 41st plenary meeting with 63 states co-sponsoring it.
According to Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the missing persons resolution, numbered A/C.3/81/L.24, was put forward during the UN General Assembly’s 81st session and was agreed with the co-sponsorship of 63 member states representing different geographic regions.
Baku’s initiative on the issue is not new: Azerbaijan first raised the matter in 2002, at the General Assembly’s 57th session, and has pursued it since. The resolution reaffirms states’ obligations regarding missing persons under international humanitarian law and human rights commitments.
The document calls on countries party to armed conflicts to take the necessary measures to prevent people from going missing and to clarify their fate. It also stresses the importance of ending impunity for criminal acts related to missing persons.
The resolution calls on member states to cooperate on identifying, mapping and protecting burial sites, and for the first time explicitly references individual, collective and mass graves. New clauses were also added supporting the inclusion of the missing persons issue in peace negotiations and post-conflict reconciliation processes.
The text further expresses concern that mines, unexploded ordnance left over from war, and improvised explosive devices hinder efforts to locate missing people. The resolution requests the UN Secretary-General to report on its implementation to the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, and to organize a high-level informal meeting on the matter.
