A/HRC/59/49 circumstances in which such persons are found, and any search and rescue unit receiving information about a distress incident is obliged to take immediate action if in a position to assist. 51 Coastal States have the duty to establish national search and rescue zones in cooperation with neighbouring States, to take primary responsibility for responding to search and rescue incidents that occur within their region and for ensuring effective coordination and cooperation.52 IV. Contributing factors and root causes of migrant disappearances A. Militarization, securitization and criminalization of migration 29. One of the reasons for the increase in the risk of being subjected to disappearance, including enforced disappearance, is connected to the growing externalization of migration governance and the intensification of border controls, coupled with increasing securitization and deterrence measures.53 The documented use of military and security forces, including by private actors, to manage migration at international borders exacerbates the dangers leading to disappearance, including enforced disappearance. 54 In Mexico, a recent constitutional reform allows the armed forces, the army and the national guard to take on the dual role of combating organized crime and human trafficking. Such practices could result in a failure to distinguish between migrants in transit and individuals associated with criminal groups.55 30. These forms of border militarization frequently constitute deterrence measures by either purposefully funnelling migrants into more geographically dangerous terrain where the risk of disappearance is heightened or by subjecting them to criminalization. The Italian Government, for example, issued a decree establishing a new criminal offense for “death or injury as a consequence of illegal immigration offences”, punishable by 20 to 30 years in prison.56 In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, through the adoption of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Government made changes to the 1971 Immigration Act, expanding the range of circumstances in which crossings of the English Channel could be considered criminal.57 31. Furthermore, strategies to combat trafficking, often resulting in the militarization of borders, force migrants to geographically dangerous areas where they can easily disappear because of the absence of humanitarian assistance and basic means of survival. For instance, in 2024, Yemeni authorities launched a joint military campaign aimed at curbing human smuggling and trafficking operations along the coast of the Governorate of Lahj. The deportation practices employed as part of that campaign resulted in individuals being returned to unknown locations, without adequate basic assistance and protection measures, thereby exposing them to greater risk of going missing.58 32. Collaboration between States whose interception practices have reportedly been incompliant with international maritime and human rights law under externalization policies that seek to deter migrants from approaching international borders, thereby denying them 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 8 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, art. 98; International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, annex, chap. 2.1.10; and International Convention for the Safety of Human Life at Sea, chap. V, regulation 33 (1). International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, annex 2.1.3. A/72/335, para. 11; and A/HRC/36/39/Add.2, para. 80. A/HRC/45/9, para. 17. See submission by Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/02/italy-proposed-new-sea-rescue-law-puts-morelives-risk-turk; and A/HRC/WG.6/34/ITA/2, para. 62. See communication GBR 11/2021 and Government reply of 8 April 2022. All communications mentioned in the present report and responses thereto are available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMSearch/TMdocuments); and https://www.ohchr.org/en/pressreleases/2022/03/un-rights-chief-urges-revisions-uk-borders-bill. Submission by UNHCR; see also Mixed Migration Centre, “Necessity rather than trust: Smuggling dynamics on the Eastern Route through Yemen” (December 2024).