General Comment No. 5 on article 17 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance

With a view to focusing the attention of Governments more effectively on the relevant obligations deriving from the Declaration, the Working Group, in the light of its experience with communications with Governments, decided to adopt general comments on those provisions of the Declaration that might need further explanation.

At its sixty-first session, the Working Group adopted the following general comments on article 17 of the Declaration, which establishes fundamental principles intended to clarify the nature of enforced disappearances and their criminal consequences.