International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan - report on women's and girls' right to health in Afghanistan. Speakers:  Richard Bennett, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Nazifa Jalali, Director of Dialogue Hub and steering committee member of Human Rights Defenders Plus (HRD+) Suraya Dalil, former Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan and former Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva Related Sites and Documents:  Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan . Watch the OHCHR Special Procedures - Press Conference: Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan! Press Conferences +

HRC Investigative Bodies press conference - Launch of a report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan. Subject: Launch of report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, to be presented to the Human Rights Council's 61st session. Speakers:   Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission- (Zoom) Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission- (Zoom) Mona Rishmawi, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission- In the Press Room (PR) Related Sites and Documents:  Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan Watch the HRC Investigative Bodies - Press conference: FFM Sudan! Press Conferences

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today concluded its consideration of the initial report of Malta on its implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance . Committee Experts asked questions on the State’s efforts to establish a stand-alone law on enforced disappearance and a national human rights institution, and to prevent disappearances of migrants. Several experts raised concerns that the State party did not have a stand-alone crime of enforced disappearance. Fidelis Kanyongolo, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked about steps taken to establish an autonomous offence of enforced disappearance with appropriate penalties. Barbara Lochbihler, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the human rights and equality commission bill, which would establish a national human rights institution, had not yet been enacted. What parts of the bill were under review and what was the timeline for its adoption? Ms. Loch...

Each year, on 24 March , the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims is observed. This annual observance pays tribute to the memory of Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero , who was murdered on 24 March 1980. Monsignor Romero was actively engaged in denouncing violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable individuals in El Salvador.

  The right to the truth is often invoked in the context of gross violations of human rights and grave breaches of humanitarian law. The relatives of victims of summary executions, enforced disappearance, missing persons, abducted children, torture , require to know what happened to them. The right to the truth implies knowing the full and complete truth as to the events that transpired, their specific circumstances, and who participated in them, including knowing the circumstances in which the violations took place, as well as the reasons for them.

On March 24th, we honor the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations by lighting a candle for each missing person . A candle for the Missing.