The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution at the initiative of Azerbaijan on November 10 within the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UN) at the 41st session of the Third Committee (on social, humanitarian and cultural issues) by consensus adopted the resolution A/C.3/81/L.24, at the initiative of Azerbaijan. The decision was made by 63 member states representing different regions of the world. This initiative, first put forward by Azerbaijan at the 57th session of the General Assembly in 2002 and promoted consistently over the years, reaffirms the obligations towards missing persons under international humanitarian law, which must be complemented by international human rights law. The resolution calls on states to armed conflicts to take appropriate measures to prevent disappearances and determine the fate of missing persons. At the same time, it was noted that it is possible to link disappearances with acts that constitute criminal offenses, and the importance of ending the impossibility of violations of international humanitarian human rights law against missing persons. The resolution calls on the states to cooperate in dealing with the missing, including through the identification, mapping and preservation of burial sites. In this context, for the first time, the decision specifically mentions individual, collective and mass graves.

The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution at the initiative of Azerbaijan on November 10 within the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UN) at the 41st session of the Third Committee (on social, humanitarian and cultural issues) by consensus adopted the resolution A/C.3/81/L.24, at the initiative of Azerbaijan. The decision was made by 63 member states representing different regions of the world. This initiative, first put forward by Azerbaijan at the 57th session of the General Assembly in 2002 and promoted consistently over the years, reaffirms the obligations towards missing persons under international humanitarian law, which must be complemented by international human rights law. The resolution calls on states to armed conflicts to take appropriate measures to prevent disappearances and determine the fate of missing persons. At the same time, it was noted that it is possible to link disappearances with acts that constitute criminal offenses, and the importance of ending the impossibility of violations of international humanitarian human rights law against missing persons. The resolution calls on the states to cooperate in dealing with the missing, including through the identification, mapping and preservation of burial sites. In this context, for the first time, the decision specifically mentions individual, collective and mass graves.