A/HRC/59/49 of their loved ones.22 The disrespectful treatment of human remains may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the family of the deceased. 23 17. Migrants should not be deprived of liberty for undocumented entry into a country. 24 If immigration detention is nonetheless implemented, it should only be used as a measure of last resort and must be continuously reassessed. 25 Migrants should be provided with effective communication channels at all times and have the right to obtain information as to the grounds of detention and accessible judicial remedies including to challenge the legality of the detention.26 18. Secret detention amounts to enforced disappearance, regardless of duration, including during transfer between detention facilities or during deportation, as well as in cases of deprivation of liberty by non-State actors with the support, authorization or acquiescence of the State.27 Moreover, secret detention exposes migrants to the risk of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.28 19. The detention of children on the basis of their or their parents’ migration status is never in the best interests of the child and is a violation of the rights of the child. 29 States must take positive measures to avoid separating families, including during immigration detention, in compliance with the right to family life, and to reunite family members who have been separated.30 B. Prohibition of enforced disappearance and the right to truth 20. Everyone has the right to be protected from enforced disappearance, regardless of their migratory status. No circumstances, including those based on national security, lack of institutional capacity to expeditiously process large numbers of migrants deprived of liberty or the enforcement of migratory regulations and policies can justify enforced disappearance, no matter the duration. 31 Enforced disappearance constitutes a multiple human rights violation, including of the rights to life and security of the person, to be protected from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to receive information, to be recognized as a person before the law and to an effective remedy. Cases of persons who are disappeared by non-State actors, notably smugglers and/or traffickers, when they occur with the authorization, support or acquiescence by State actors, constitute enforced disappearance.32 Situations in which migrants drown in the ocean or go missing in the desert when State actors could have prevented such occurrences but refrained from doing so may 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 A/HRC/56/56, para. 35. See Nakarmi and Nakarmi v. Nepal (CCPR/C/119/D/2184/2012). A/71/285, para. 87. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders, Guideline 8, para. 1 (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/OHCHR_Recommended_Prin ciples_Guidelines.pdf); see Human Rights Committee, communication No. 1324/2004, Shafiq v. Australia (CCPR/C/88/1324/2004), para. 7.2. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, art. 17. International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 17; A/HRC/13/42, para. 28; Yrusta and Yrusta v. Argentina (CED/C/10/D/1/2013), para. 10.3; and Committee on Enforced Disappearances, general comment No. 1 (2023), para. 17. A/61/299, para. 27; and Mojica v. Dominican Republic (CCPR/C/51/D/449/1991), para. 5.7. A/HRC/28/68, para. 80; Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 6 (2005), para. 61. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 23 (1); Communication No. 1179/2003, Ngambi and Nébol v. France (CCPR/C/81/D/1179/2003), para. 6.4; Report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on its 2012 Day of General Discussion on the rights of all children in the context of international migration, para. 39 (https://www.refworld.org/reference/themreport/crc/2012/en/95889). International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 1; Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 7; CED/C/11, paras. 3 and 6. A/HRC/36/39/Add.2, paras. 34 and 43. 5