The United States of America will be committed to addressing the issue of enforced disappearances, and calls on governments around the world to end this practice and reveal their whereabouts.

This is stated in the statement of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

The International Day of the Disappeared in the world is marked on August 30.

“Every year ordinary people fall victim to enforced disappearance and disappear without a trace after being arrested, detained or abducted by government officials or those acting with their consent. “Those who are responsible often refuse to reveal the occurrence of the missing, and may even justify these actions as part of counter-terrorism activities,” the statement said.

Blinken said authoritarian regimes and their proxies try to instill fear and maintain control by eliminating human rights advocates, political activists, journalists and other groups such as children and people with disabilities.

The statement adds that this practice is an egregious violation of human rights, prohibited under international law, which nevertheless continues to be used to silence dissent and attack civil society.