In many cases, those who had been disappeared, but then reappeared months or even years later, reported having been tortured, and having witnessed the extrajudicial killings of fellow detainees.38 An estimated 43,000 men were held incommunicado in camps without due process. While many of these men were released and returned to their homes, often having been ill-treated or tortured, others disappeared from their camp or shortly after their original release.39 bi, Kenya. The UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan issued a report in late April 2019 stating that it was “highly probable” that the NSS killed the two men in South Sudan, but the South Sudanese and Kenyan governments have both denied having knowledge of their whereabouts.43 ED in the context of migration and internal displacement Despite a well-established link between ED and migration, the issue has gained little attention from governments and the international community. Owing to the transnational character of ED in migration, as well as the involvement of criminal groups (such as smugglers or traffickers), blame and responsibility is often placed elsewhere.44 Case study Amine Dutour Amine Dutour disappeared during the Algerian civil war when he was 21 years old.40 On 30 January 1997, Amine was taken away by unidentified men, who are presumed to have been intelligence service agents, in a white car parked in front of his house, and has not been heard from since. His mother, Nassera Dutour, founded the Coalition of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria in 1999, helping victims of enforced disappearances in the country to seek justice, find information on the whereabouts of their loved ones, and obtain reparations. ED can itself be a cause of migration, with many individuals fleeing their home country due to fear of persecution and/or in light of the social and economic consequences of an ED.45 At the same time, the migratory journey itself can heighten the risk of exposure to ED. There are many factors contributing to the perilous nature of migratory journeys, including the lack of safe or legal migration routes, the militarisation of borders, the arrest and detention of undocumented migrants, and the lack of safeguards in immigration detention or lack of enforcement of such safeguards.46 Crucially, as the WGEID has highlighted, “the discourse and language used to address the issue of migration and, in particular, to characterize migrants, notably those with irregular status, associating them with security threats and criminality places them in a situation of increased vulnerability, thus exposing them further to violence and human rights violations, including enforced disappearance.”47 Other allegations of ED in the context of political violence or civil unrest include the discovery of secret detention facilities and mass graves in Burundi41 and the violent crackdown on peaceful protests in Ethiopia42. States also seek to disappear prominent critics or activists who are outside their territorial jurisdiction but are not necessarily migrants or individuals seeking refugee or asylum status in another country. In January 2017, for example, agents from South Sudan’s National Security Service (“NSS”) kidnapped two critics of the government – Dong Samuel Luak, a lawyer and human rights activist, and Aggrey Ezbon Idri, a member of the political opposition – in Nairo- The adoption by States of excessively rigid migration policies focused on deterrence encourages the use of 38 Ibid. 39 Algeria-Watch, Les Déportés des camps du Sud, une plaie qui continue de saigner, 26 July 2010. See also Comite Justice pour l’Algérie , Les Détentions Arbitraires: Dossier No. 4, May 2004. 40 The International Center for Transitional Justice, “Only truth could heal this pain”: Algerian women speak of their search for the disappeared, 3 August 2016; Amnesty International, The disappeared in the Mena: Neither dead nor alive. 41 UN WGEID, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances A/HR/33/51, 28 July 2016, paras.85-87. 42 UN OHCHR, UN experts urge Ethiopia to halt violent crackdown on Oromia protesters, ensure accountability for abuses, 21 January 2016. 43 Amnesty International, South Sudan: Investigate Apparent 2017 Killing of Activists, 30 April 2019. 44 UN WGEID, Report on enforced disappearances in the context of migration, A/HRC/36/39/Add.2, 28 July 2017. 45 Ibid. 46 Bernard Duhaime and Andréanne Thibault, Protection of migrants from enforced disappearance: A human rights perspective, International Review of the Red Cross, August 2017, at p. 578; see also Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Unlawful death of refugees and migrants, 15 August 2017, at paras 10 to 13; see also UN/ECOWAS, Release Report on Gambia Migrant Massacre where more than 50 detained Ghanaian and other West African migrants were killed, 24 January 2019, Geneva. 47 UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 67. 18

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