International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in such situations, as determined by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.6 For the purposes of defining an act of enforced disappearance, the Working Group considers that placing the victim outside the protection of the law is a consequence of the crime. The Working Group, therefore, admits cases of enforced disappearance without requiring the source of the information to demonstrate, or even presume, that the intention of the perpetrator was indeed to place the victim outside the protection of the law. Furthermore, the Working Group considers that an act of enforced disappearance may be initiated by an illegal detention or by an initially legal arrest or detention. That is to say, the protection of a victim from enforced disappearance must be effective upon the act of deprivation of liberty, whatever form such deprivation takes, and not be limited to illegal deprivations of liberty. Finally, a detention followed by an extrajudicial execution is an enforced disappearance proper, if it was carried out by governmental agents of whatever branch or level, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, and, subsequent to the detention, or even after the execution was carried out, State officials refuse to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or refuse to acknowledge the act having been perpetrated at all. B. Activities of the Working Group The Working Group’s basic mandate is to assist relatives to ascertain the fate and whereabouts of their disappeared family members. For this purpose, the Working Group examines reports of disappearances received from relatives of disappeared persons or human rights organizations acting on their behalf. After determining whether these reports comply with a number of criteria, the Working Group transmits individual cases to the Governments concerned, requesting them to carry out investigations and to inform the Working Group of the results. The Working Group deals with the cases on a purely humanitarian basis, irrespective of whether Further information on these Conventions may be found in Fact Sheet No. 13: International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. 6 12