4.2 Other Partners

4.2 Other Partners

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disa-

ppearances (UNWGEID) is a mechanism established by the UN to examine questions related to the forced or involuntary disappearance of persons, based on resolution 20 (XXXVI) of 29 February 1980. The latest resolution, A / HRC / RES / 45/3, which renewed the mandate of the Working Group, was approved by the Council of Human Rights in October 2020. One of the main duties of the UNWGEID is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reported missing. In a humanitarian capacity, the Working Group serves as a channel of communication between family members of victims of enforced disappearance and other sources who report cases of disappearance, and interested Governments.

To this end, the Group receives, evaluates and transmits to Governments reports of enforced disappearances submitted by relatives of missing persons or human rights organizations acting on their behalf. The Working Group urges governments to conduct investigations and inform the Working Group of the outcomes. The Working Group deals with these requests for information on a periodic basis. These cases remain open in the Working Group database until the person’s fate or whereabouts are settled. The 2016 UNWGEID report on Albania states that: The Working Group encourages Albania to adopt provisions that explicitly state that enforced disappearance is a continuing crime to which amnesties and immunities cannot be applied, so that the framework of criminal law for the prevention, investigation and punishment of enforced disappearance shall be complete. It is

important that domestic legislation be interpreted and enforced

in accordance with international law. It is a disappointment that criminal law has not been put in practice. The Working Group

also regrets that, despite the large number of persons forcibly disappeared by the authoritarian regime prior to its end in the early 1990s, no cases of enforced disappearances have been judged in Albanian courts18 .

The Albanian government provided its comments on the report in July 201719 .

18 Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on its mission to Albania, made public in July 2017, pg. 6 19 Albania answers 1710726 (refworld.org)