A/HRC/59/49 development of the region of the Darién Gap, including the adoption of measures to guarantee the human rights of the migrant population.130 75. At the national level, Colombia has established its Mecanismo de Búsqueda Urgente to ensure that judicial authorities immediately take the necessary steps to locate disappeared persons, including migrants. The Gambia and Switzerland initiated the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development (Rabat Process), through which a network of national focal points for missing migrants was established in July 2024. 131 Switzerland, in cooperation with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, also supports the establishment of a multi-stakeholder forensic coordination mechanism to clarify the whereabouts of migrants who go missing along the Africa-Europe western border and to inform their families.132 76. The Special Rapporteur stresses the need to expand such mechanisms in order to: standardize definitions and methodologies for cross-border data collection; improve comparability; establish independent forensic investigation bodies and robust reporting mechanisms in migration centres and transit points for collecting comprehensive and timely data; and ensure effective safeguards for human rights defenders as well as for migrants who face reprisals for their involvement in the search for their loved ones. Emerging technologies are often deployed at borders to enhance surveillance techniques without adequate risk assessment and safeguards.133 Such technologies are also used by migrants themselves to share video footage of their location and live geo-coordinates, which has proven useful in determining their fate and whereabouts. 134 The Special Rapporteur encourages States and humanitarian and civil society actors to further mobilize these technologies, with a focus on human rights protection, to document and clarify cases of migrant disappearance. VIII. Conclusions and recommendations to prevent, investigate and sanction migrant disappearances 77. The Special Rapporteur cannot overemphasize the urgency of preventing and investigating all deaths and disappearances, including cases of enforced disappearance, in the context of migration, especially in the light of the increasing militarization, securitization and criminalization of migration. The protection of the right to life, regardless of migration status, is a central tenet of the international human rights system: efforts to save the lives of migrants and to protect their human rights must be rapidly scaled up. Recognizing both the particular vulnerability and agency of migrants themselves and their relatives is the basis for guaranteeing a victim-focused approach while addressing the root causes underlying migrant disappearances, including enforced disappearance. 78. The transnational nature of migrant disappearances makes efforts towards prevention, search, investigation and sanctioning of perpetrators complex. However, such complexity does not exempt States from fulfilling positive human rights obligations, nor from accountability.135 In order to protect migrants and provide them with effective redress, it is imperative that countries of origin, transit and destination live up to their joint responsibility and develop, in cooperation with humanitarian actors, civil society and victims, an effective framework for international cooperation, without delay, to prevent and address such disappearances. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur emphasizes the need for States to follow the recommendations and measures in achieving the objectives of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and 130 131 132 133 134 135 Submission by Colombia. See https://www.rabat-process.org/en/activities/technical-meetings/kick-off-meeting-of-the-networkof-national-focal-points-for-missing-migrants. See submission by Switzerland. OHCHR and University of Essex, “Digital border governance: a human rights-based approach” (2023); and A/72/335, para. 12. A/HRC/50/31, para. 24; and A/HRC/54/22/Add.5, para. 53. A/HRC/47/30, para. 38. 17