A/HRC/22/45 I. Introduction 1. The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances was the first United Nations human rights thematic mechanism to be established with a universal mandate. The original mandate derives from Commission on Human Rights resolution 20 (XXXVI) of 29 February 1980, which followed General Assembly resolution 33/173 of 20 December 1978, in which the Assembly expressed concern at reports from various parts of the world relating to enforced disappearances and requested the Commission to consider the question of missing or disappeared persons. The mandate was most recently extended by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 16/16 of 24 March 2011. 2. The primary task of the Working Group is to assist families in determining the fate or whereabouts of their family members who are reportedly disappeared. In this humanitarian capacity, the Working Group serves as a channel of communication between family members of victims of enforced disappearance and others connected to the disappeared person, and Governments. 3. Following the adoption by the General Assembly of its resolution 47/133 and of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Working Group was entrusted to monitor the progress of States in fulfilling their obligations derived from the Declaration. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 7/12, encouraged the Working Group to provide assistance in the implementation by States of the Declaration and of existing international rules. The year 2012 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration. The Working Group held a commemorative event on 30 and 31 October 2012 with the support of the Organisation International de la Francophonie and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (see also paragraph 14 below). 4. The present report reflects the communications and cases examined by the Working Group during its three sessions in 2012, covering the period from 12 November 2011 to 9 November 2012. 5. A summary of the activities held during the reporting period is presented in a table for each country, with a detailed text description of the areas of activity (see annex I). The Working Group regrets that this section, which contains relevant information on enforced disappearances around the world, will not be translated. In this respect, the Working Group is currently exploring different modalities to report on its activities, which would possibly allow their translation in the future. Where there has been no information from the Government or the sources, notwithstanding the annual reminder sent by the Working Group concerning outstanding cases, a table is provided and a reference is made to the previous report dealing with those cases. 6. Since its inception, the Working Group has transmitted a total of 53,986 cases to Governments. The number of cases under active consideration that have not yet been clarified, closed or discontinued stands at 42,889 in a total of 84 States. The Working Group has been able to clarify 298 cases over the past five years. 7. The Working Group is concerned that many communications are not still translated in time, thus delaying their consideration by the Working Group and limiting its humanitarian mandate. The Working Group also regrets that, at the time of approval of the present report (November 2012), the previous report of the Working Group had been translated into Arabic only. 8. The website of the Working Group remains inadequate. The majority of the content is in English only. The Working Group once again calls on the United Nations to provide adequate resources to bring it up to date and more accessible. 3