The GNCHR at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Conference on missing migrants
On 23 and 24 April 2025, a Parliamentary Conference on envisioning effective public policy to prevent and address cases of missing migrants took place in Strasbourg, France with the participation of Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants, the International Organization for Migration, the International Red Cross, academics, national authorities and civil society organizations representing victims and their families. The Parliamentary Assembly adopted last year Resolution 2569/2024 on missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (https://pace.coe.int/en/files/33815/html ) and its Recommendation 2284/2024. For more information visit the conference website: https://pace.coe.int/en/pages/conferencemissingmigrants
Greece was represented at the Parliamentary Conference by the judicial and police authorities, who presented good practices in the collection of data for the identification of missing persons and the judicial investigation of missing persons cases. At the invitation of the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly Resolution, Eva Tzavala, Coordinator of the Scientific Staff, participated in the proceedings of the conference on behalf of the GNCGR, who pointed out the special role and added value of national human rights institutions in preventing the phenomenon and effectively addressing it by strengthening cooperation between the Council of Europe, national authorities and civil society at national level.
The GNCHR contributed to the documentation of the Special Rapporteur's report which formed the basis of the resolution (https://www.nchr.gr/ta-nea-mas/1715-episkepsi-voulefti-tis-k-s-tou-symvouliou-tis-evropis-stin-eeda-gia-zitimata-agnooymenon-metanaston.html ) and has been consistently monitoring the issue of the treatment of missing migrants and the rights of their families through its recommendations and interventions. See also the relevant Council of Europe press release: https://pace.coe.int/en/news/9872/public-policy-to-prevent-and-address-cases-of-missing-migrants-a-collective-will-of-the-46-is-needed
