On 29 August 2025, in commemoration of the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, UNPO hosted a webinar titled “Enforced Disappearances: Accountability, Memory, and Justice for Unrepresented Peoples”. The event brought together representatives from the Sindh, Balochistan, Crimean Tatar, Iranian Kurdistan and Uyghur communities, who shared their testimonies on how enforced disappearances continue to serve as a systematic tool of repression and erasure.
Opening the discussion, UNPO President Rubina Greenwood stressed that enforced disappearance is not only the removal of an individual but the deliberate erasure of a voice, story, and community. She described the torment of families left in permanent uncertainty and underlined that the practice instills fear, silences dissent, and fractures societies. Greenwood urged stronger international accountability, solidarity among affected peoples, and recognition of enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity.
Speakers highlighted that enforced disappearance is a profound human rights violation used to suppress freedom of speech, erase cultures, and obstruct self-determination. They called for international accountability mechanisms, stronger advocacy, and solidarity to resist erasure.
Crimean Tatars
Crimea SOS, representing the Crimean Tatar community, detailed the systematic use of enforced disappearances by Russian authorities in Crimea since 2014. They reported that their organization has documented 66 cases of enforced disappearances between the initial occupation and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, of which 21 individuals, mostly Crimean Tatars, remain missing. Crimea SOS explained that these disappearances primarily target activists, journalists, and community leaders who oppose the occupation, serving as a tool to suppress resilience, instill fear, and project total control over the population.
The organization highlighted the profound intergenerational impact on Crimean Tatars, whose collective memory is shaped by past deportations under the Soviet Union. Families of the disappeared endure severe psychological trauma, with parents and children living in constant uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones. Krym SOS also noted that, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, these practices have expanded into newly occupied territories, with abductions carried out under similar patterns of intimidation, torture, and forced accusations of terrorism or collaboration. Crimea SOS emphasized that enforced disappearances in Crimea violate international law, including the rights of Ukrainian citizens under occupation, and called for stronger international mechanisms to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.
Iranian Kurdistan
Taimoor Aliassi of Iranian Kurdistan addressed the longstanding use of enforced disappearances by the Iranian regime as a tool of political repression. He situated the issue in the broader context of Iran’s ethnic composition, where power remains concentrated in the hands of the Persian Shia elite, while minorities such as Kurds, Baluch, Arabs, and others face systemic discrimination. Aliassi recalled how, since 1979, Kurdish opposition to the establishment of an Islamic Republic and demands for autonomy were met with military campaigns, summary executions, and mass displacement.
He emphasized one of the regime’s most cruel practices: refusing to return the bodies of executed political prisoners, leaving families in a perpetual state of grief and uncertainty. He cited the recent execution of Kurdish political prisoner Hussein in April 2025, whose remains were withheld despite appeals from UN experts, as well as the mass executions of 1988, in which thousands were secretly buried in unmarked graves. Disturbingly, he noted that some of these burial sites are now being destroyed or built over to erase evidence. Aliassi underlined that enforced disappearances in Iran are not isolated events but part of a systematic pattern spanning decades, aimed at silencing minorities. While international mechanisms have repeatedly raised the issue, he argued that statements and reports alone are insufficient. He urged the international community to support awareness campaigns within Iran itself, empowering families and civil society to challenge impunity and keep the memory of the disappeared alive.
Sindh
Farhan Soomro, General Secretary of the World Sindh Congress, described the profound uncertainty faced by families in Sindh, Pakistan, where loved ones vanish without official arrest records, leaving relatives trapped in a “nightmare of uncertainty.” Victims are often abducted in unmarked vehicles, tortured, and cut off from the world, while their families endure deep psychological scars, financial ruin, and social isolation. This trauma, he stressed, passes down through generations, even for those who are eventually released but remain under constant surveillance and threat.
Soomro appealed to the international community to use all available tools, including trade preferences such as the EU’s GSP+, to pressure Pakistan to halt these practices. He noted that international pressure has in the past led to the release of some disappeared individuals and called for united global action and binding resolutions to compel states to end enforced disappearances.
Balochistan
Dr. Sabia Baloch, a human rights defender from Balochistan, described enforced disappearances as the most pressing human rights crisis facing her community. She recalled that the first documented case dates back nearly fifty years, yet the practice has only intensified, with at least 154 people forcibly disappeared in the first eight months of 2025 alone—a figure she stressed is only “the tip of the iceberg” given the lack of internet access, fear, and repression that prevent accurate reporting.
Baloch highlighted the devastating impact on families, who not only lose their loved ones but also their breadwinners, leaving entire households in destitution. Many victims are returned as mutilated bodies, bearing signs of extreme torture, while others remain buried anonymously in mass graves known locally as the “graveyards of the unknown.” Despite this violence, she noted, the people of Balochistan continue to resist through protests—even during religious festivals—keeping alive the demand for justice. Dr. Baloch appealed to the international community, particularly the EU, IMF, and multinational corporations operating in the region, to condition trade and investment on Pakistan’s compliance with its human rights obligations. Without such pressure, she warned, enforced disappearances will persist as a systematic tool to silence dissent and plunder Balochistan’s land and resources.
East Turkestan
Mr. Kuerban Haiyuer from the World Uyghur Congress highlighted how enforced disappearance has long been used as a systematic tool of repression by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghur people in East Turkestan. Since 2017, this practice has escalated dramatically with the mass internment campaign, where 1.8 to 3 million Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained in “re-education” camps marked by torture, indoctrination, and the erasure of Uyghur identity. Thousands have simply vanished, with families left in the dark about the fate of their loved ones. He explained that enforced disappearance not only silences those within East Turkestan but also extends abroad through transnational repression, where Uyghur activists in the diaspora face intimidation and collective punishment of relatives back home. This creates a climate of fear that stifles advocacy even in democratic countries.
He urged the international community to treat enforced disappearances as a global human rights crisis, not an isolated one. In particular, he welcomed growing recognition of transnational repression by Western governments, including recent G7 commitments, and called for continued pressure on China. Ending enforced disappearances, he stressed, is essential not only for justice in East Turkestan but also for safeguarding democratic freedoms worldwide.
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Speakers collectively stressed that enforced disappearances represent one of the gravest attacks on the dignity and survival of unrepresented peoples. They called for intensified international action to end impunity and ensure accountability. While UN mechanisms provide important advocacy avenues, participants urged broader global awareness campaigns, strong resolutions, and the use of international platforms—including the Human Rights Council, the European Parliament, and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. They also underlined the role of civil society, NGOs, activists, and diaspora communities in advocating for recognition of enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity.
The families of the disappeared remain at the forefront of this struggle, carrying the double burden of grief and relentless advocacy. The speakers urged solidarity across communities, expressing hope in building alliances among nations affected by this crime to resist erasure and demand justice.
This webinar formed part of UNPO’s 2025 Webinar Series, which amplifies the voices of unrepresented peoples and sheds light on the mechanisms of repression they face. The series reinforces that the fight against enforced disappearances is inseparable from the broader struggle for self-determination and human rights.
