A/HRC/59/49 to actions, either before an individual has entered the territory of a State or within State territory, to prevent disembarkation, to curb onward travel or to expel migrants out of its territory.43 D. Applicable State obligation 25. Deaths and disappearances require the State to carry out prompt, effective, thorough, ex officio, transparent, impartial and independent investigations. In the context of enforced disappearance, investigations should start immediately after a disappearance has been reported because the first moments after it occurred are key for establishing the facts, identifying the perpetrators and determining the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared person. 44 States are obliged to continue such investigations for as long as the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons remains unclarified. 45 It is also critical that States establish mutual cooperation mechanisms, including by facilitating the collection of ante-mortem information necessary to search for the disappeared. 46 Family members have the rights to take part in these investigations, to obtain available information, to equal and effective access to justice and to adequate, effective and prompt reparation. 26. In relation to immigrant detention, States are obligated to guarantee that migrants deprived of their liberty are held solely in officially recognized and supervised places of deprivation of liberty, separately from convicted persons. States should also ensure that they: are informed about their rights from the very outset, in a language that they understand; have effective access to counsel, and, where necessary, to a professional interpreter; and are authorized to communicate without delay with their relatives or any person of their choice, including with their consular or diplomatic authorities, if they so wish. 47 27. In the light of the right to the truth of migrants and their family members, States are obligated to adopt measures to promote truth and facilitate reparations for victims, which is critical to ensure non-repetition of enforced disappearances and to clarify cases.48 They are further obligated to provide access to archives and full protection to witnesses, relatives, judges and other participants in any investigation, to recover human remains and to return the remains to the families of the deceased to dispose according to their own tradition, religion or culture.49 28. The Special Rapporteur further recalls that the objectives 7, 8 and 10 of the Global Compact include addressing and reducing vulnerabilities in migration, saving lives and establishing coordinated international efforts on missing migrants and preventing, combating and eradicating trafficking in persons in the context of international migration. States have a further duty to provide adequate and effective search and rescue at sea. 50 Shipmasters must provide assistance to any person found at sea, regardless of nationality, status or the 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Ibid. para. 36. OHCHR, Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016): The Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, para. 20; A/HRC/45/13/Add.3, para. 12; Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 13; and International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 12. A/HRC/16/48, para. 39. A/HRC/45/13/Add.3, para. 58. CED/C/NLD/CO/1, para. 29; Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 10; and International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art. 17(1). A/HRC/16/48, para. 39. A/HRC/16/48, para. 39; A/HRC/21/46, para. 54; OHCHR, Minnesota Protocol, para. 37; and Nina H. B. Jørgensen, “Missing migrants and the right to identification”, Nordic Journal of Human Rights, vol. 43, No.1 (2025), pp. 51–52. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018), para. 63; United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, art. 98; International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, regulation 15; International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, annex, chap. 2.1.1; and UNHCR, “Distress at sea: a call for a humanitarian and precautionary approach” (https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/joint-statement-on-distress-at-sea.pdf). 7