A/HRC/59/49 trigger State responsibility. 33 Finally, immigration-related transnational transfers and deportations that occur within the context or at the margins of regular expulsion procedures can also be considered enforced disappearance if all other constitutive elements of the crime are met.34 21. International humanitarian law further entails the obligation to prevent individuals from going missing as a result of an armed conflict, to search and account for them, to facilitate enquiries made by family members and to provide the latter with any information related to the fate of the missing person, which also applies to migrants going missing in conflict situations.35 22. The autonomous right to truth guarantees relatives of forcibly disappeared persons and those missing in connection to armed conflict the right to receive information about the stages and results of investigations, including the circumstances of the disappearances and the fate of the disappeared persons.36 The right to truth in relation to enforced disappearances is both a collective and an individual right, that is, an absolute right that is not subject to any limitation or derogation. In cases of death of a forcibly disappeared person, the right to truth entails the return of remains to the next of kin and/or identification of the place of burial. 37 Truth-seeking efforts and reparative measures should also apply to violations of human rights or humanitarian law committed by non-State actors, including corporations, private sector organizations and non-State armed groups, to address specific harms for which they have been responsible.38 C. Principle of non-refoulement and prohibition of collective expulsions 23. The principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits States from expelling, refusing access, transferring, deporting, extraditing or otherwise removing persons in cases of risk of death, torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance or other irreparable harm, extends to every person, regardless of their legal or migratory status.39 International law further prohibits arbitrary or collective expulsion of non-nationals in all circumstances and States are obligated to conduct a reasonable and objective examination of each individual case. 40 24. Pushbacks violate these obligations and are incompatible with the search and rescue obligations of States.41 Pushbacks refer to “all such measures actions or policies effectively resulting in the removal of migrants, individually or in groups, without an individualized assessment in line with human rights obligations and due process guarantees”.42 This extends 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 6 Ibid. para. 44. A/HRC/48/57, para. 41. ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law: Volume 1: Rules, rule 117; Geneva Convention IV art. 26; Additional Protocol I, art. 3; and ICRC, Missing Persons and their Families: International Legal Framework, 2. E/CN.4/2006/91, para. 55; A/HRC/16/48, para. 39; Updated Set of Principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity, principles 2–5; Basic Principles and Guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of human rights, principle 24; and Additional Protocol I, arts. 32–33. A/HRC/16/48, para. 39; Guzmán Medina y otros v. Colombia, Judgment, 23 August 2023, paras. 92– 93; A/HRC/56/56 paras. 10–11; and International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, arts. 15, 17 (3) (g) and 24 (3). A/HRC/51/34, paras. 46, 67 and 84. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 3; International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 16; Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Convention), art. 33; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, art. 22 (1); Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 29 (2001), para. 11; and Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018), para. 30. A/CN.4/581, para. 115; International Law Commission, draft articles on the expulsion of aliens, Yearbook of the International Law Commission, vol. II (Part Two), art. 9 (3); International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, art. 22 (1). A/HRC/47/30, para. 52. Ibid., para. 35.