are often run jointly by State and non-State actors, and migrants often aren’t registered or provided with access to a lawyer or other procedural guarantees.65 the transit or destination State to the State of Origin so that ‘political’ migrants can be located within the host State’s territory.”66 In its 2013 report, the WGEID notified Egypt of a number of cases relating to Egyptian individuals who were allegedly captured in the United Arab Emirates and forcibly returned to Egypt.67 More recently, Human Rights Watch reported that Tanzanian authorities have gravely abused at least 18 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers since late 2019, with many having been forcibly disappeared and their whereabouts unknown.68 The report indicated that there may have been collusion between State agents from the two countries. Case study Tariku Asefa Tariku Asefa was born in Eritrea but moved to Sudan with his father when he was very young. In 2010, his father was arrested by Sudanese authorities for not having a residence permit and handed over to Eritrean authorities. Tariku Asefa has not heard from his father since then. Tariku Asefa tried to escape Sudan several times as he was worried that he would be returned to Eritrea. In 2014, he finally left Khartoum in a lorry packed with people heading to Libya. On the way, they were transferred from one smuggler to another. Eventually Tariku Asefa was captured by an Arabic-speaking group who took him into a detention centre in what he thought was Benghazi. However, he was never registered. People operating the center dressed like soldiers and told him that the only way he would be released was if he paid a ransom. Despite the large numbers of confirmed or alleged cases of ED of migrants, the WGEID has not documented any instances in which States or non-State actors have been held accountable.69 One key issue is that “…the claims and participation of relatives living in the country of origin are hampered by both distance and lack of cooperation on the part of the authorities of the country where the disappearance occurred.”70 In the centre, he slept in a cell with 50 other people without proper ventilation. People, including Tariku Asefa, were often required to undertake forced labor, including carrying heavy loads. Those who could not pay a ransom were often beaten with heavy plastic piping. Tariku Asefa was regularly beaten until he lost consciousness. He tried to escape once but upon his capture he was beaten with a hose and deprived of food and water. 14 months after being detained, a friend of his father paid the ransom, and Tariku Asefa was released and eventually made his way to the UK in 2015. ED in the context of extraordinary renditions, counterterrorism and security operations The use of counter-terrorism operations to excuse or justify human rights violations is a well-known phenomenon.71 As the WGEID has noted, “States are utilising high-handed security measures in places where the State is under the false and pernicious belief that they are a useful tool to preserve national security and combat terrorism and organised crime.”72 There are many examples of the use of arbitrary detention and subsequent disappearances against those perceived as sympathisers or collaborators with known extremist groups in the region.73 Such counterterror- Collusion between States to capture and return migrants to their country of origin also increases the risk of ED. The WGEID has noted that this “modus operandi often involves the provision of intelligence by 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 24. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at paras. 15–19. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 18. Human Rights Watch ("HRW"), Tanzania: Burundian Refugees ‘Disappeared,’ Tortured, Halt Forced Returns; Investigate Police, Intelligence Services, 30 November 2020, Nairobi. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 50. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 51. See for example UN HRC, Joint study on Secret Detention of the Special Rapporteur on Torture & other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention & the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance, A/HRC/13/42, 19 February 2010; International Service for Human Rights, Egypt: Counter-terrorism measures should not be used to cover up human rights violations, 16 March 2018. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 110. Protection International, Kenya: Set up judicial inquiry into hundreds of enforced disappearances and killings, last accessed 15 May 2021. Further, a comprehensive study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of counter-terrorism was published in 2010 and provides further detail on the widespread use of secret detention and ED by, among other states, Algeria, Libya, the DRC, Sudan and Zimbabwe pursuant to counter-terrorism laws or operations (Joint Study on Secret Detention, supra note 71, paras. 216 to 226, paras. 233 to 237 and paras. 251 to 281). 20