The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly works to bring together governments, parliamentarians and civil society actors from across Europe to design and promote effective, humane policies to prevent migrant deaths and disappearances.

International organisations, coastguard agencies and NGOs regularly provide chilling figures on the (under)estimated number of fatalities, missing persons and people in distress in the context of migration. The increased visibility of this tragic phenomenon has raised calls within our European societies to recognise our moral obligation to take action and provide a humanitarian – humane – response. Yet despite this growing awareness of the numerous and complex factors which contribute to placing men, women and children in situations of extreme vulnerability in migration, incidents and reports of migrants losing their lives or disappearing during perilous journeys are on the increase.

The Council of Europe is a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law, composed of parliamentarians appointed by national parliaments. Its Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is its deliberative political body, which meets four times a year. While it cannot create laws, it has various powers that enable it to hold member governments to account in different ways.[1] As part of its work, PACE collaborates with member States to design and promote effective policy responses to prevent deaths and disappearances in the context of migration. As politicians, our ability to act lies first and foremost in the legal framework which applies across our respective countries and in the regional and international organisations of which our respective States are members. However, although international human rights and refugee law lay down clear principles and obligations, their practical implementation in border management is complex, not least due to highly polarised debates around issues of domestic security and migration policy.

Within the Council of Europe member States, the principles of the right to life and the prevention of torture and of inhumane and degrading treatment are fundamental and non-derogable – that is, they are rights that cannot be infringed or suspended, even in times of emergency. The European Convention on Human Rights safeguards the rights of all individuals in Europe, imposing obligations that, if properly followed, could be used to work to prevent migrants from disappearing or perishing, and to ensure that families are informed of the fate of their missing ones. Most member States are also bound by many other Council of Europe legal instruments, such as the Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data.

Other international obligations derive from – among others – the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue also affirm very clear obligations for States and non-State actors to assist and rescue persons in distress at sea.

Many initiatives have helped reflect on how the existing standards should be interpreted  and implemented in an international migration context. Examples include the adoption of the General Comment No. 1 (2023) on Enforced Disappearance in the Context of Migration by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances in 2023, and the promotion by the UN Secretary-General of ‘Actionable recommendations on strengthening co-operation on missing migrants and providing humanitarian assistance to migrants in distress’ in 2024.

Across the Mediterranean, as well as in relation to other oceans and seas in Europe, civil society initiatives have structured their work in accordance with the International Law of the Sea. They have developed their own methods of working as well as protocols to complement the capacities of official search and rescue (SAR) authorities to save lives. Other local initiatives involve forensic practitioners who have put in place their own systems to try to trace and identify the bodies of those considered likely to be migrants. Examples of good practice include keeping on record any post-mortem data gathered from the bodies which could later aid identification; deploying Disaster Victim Identification teams in the case of shipwrecks; marking the graves of unidentified corpses likely to be those of migrants; and training prosecutors on the importance of investigating cases of unidentified bodies to enhance the chances of finding out who they are.

Such efforts have played a role in gathering consensus on the significance of dealing with and preventing vulnerability in the context of migration. Transnational cooperation, however, requires harmonising procedures among multiple State and non-State actors, including judicial, police, search and rescue, consular and forensic services. Moreover, there needs to be clarity about the differing roles and responsibilities of public authorities and civil society. These entities are too often put in opposition, which can lead to the criminalisation of NGOs in the most extreme cases and which severely hampers the efficiency of any efforts to prevent cases of disappearance, to search for and rescue people in distress and to identify missing persons.

Promoting policy development

The Council of Europe body of standards provides an extensive framework to prevent human rights violations and promote human rights-compliant policies for all, including for people on the move, as confirmed by the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and in the Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021–2025).[2]

Addressing situations of distress in the context of migrations means, foremost, establishing concrete preventative mechanisms aligned with the human rights standards to which member States have committed themselves. The Council of Europe provides unique standards that give body to the universal human rights principles laid down by European societies in the ashes of the Second World War 75 years ago. The Council also enables the 46 member States to discuss the practical implementation of these standards, thanks to the monitoring bodies of these conventions; especially relevant are the monitoring mechanisms on the prevention of torture, action against trafficking in human beings, and combating gender-based and domestic violence. The Council of Europe also provides cooperation frameworks for relevant public authorities such as prosecutors, national human rights institutions and Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and training tools for the judiciary and administrative bodies. Whether from a border management perspective or as a preventative mechanism to protect migrants from embarking on risky journeys, providing effective access to legal mobility pathways is essential.

PACE – the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – provides a privileged forum to reflect on these obligations, identify the challenges that our countries face, and promote good practices and policy measures that address these challenges in line with international human rights law. The Assembly brings together 612 parliamentarians from the 46 national delegations, across the political spectrum and working within five political groups. PACE members elect the judges of the European Court of Human Rights. They adopt documents which do not have legal authority but which do hold political importance, with the moral authority to push for change and even sometimes paving the way for the adoption of international conventions.

In 2024, the Assembly adopted a Resolution on how to clarify the fate of missing migrants, alongside a Recommendation addressed to the Committee of Ministers (the Council of Europe’s decision-making body).[3] This important step marked the acknowledgment by PACE of the tragedy of missing migrants, and the role of the Council of Europe in preventing and addressing it.[4] The Resolution acknowledges the importance of international cooperation, in line with Objective 8 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, aligning itself with the commitments made by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2021 and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2019.

The Resolution also touches on the important question of databases. Many stakeholders have information which can help in the search for and identification of missing migrants, whether dead or alive. However, much remains to be done for the data sets to ‘speak to each other’, ranging from including personal data protection safeguards to standardising data collection so that information can be compared safely and effectively. This includes individually marking graves so that they can later be matched to data collected. Bringing the data together is a huge task, involving human rights, technical, legal and political issues, but it is critical to allowing families to receive information about the fate of their missing relative and have access to the place of rest. Families need a point of contact for safe and reliable assistance and information, including on how to provide a DNA sample, without fear of reprisals. What is happening often in a local and non-joined-up way needs to be brought together by the public authorities into a coherent policy framework. Official authorities should be involved so that the many local initiatives can be replicated; this is a matter of public policy.

As regards SAR operations and strategies to save migrants’ lives at sea, a second Resolution under preparation will explore policy avenues and good practices.[5] This involves better cooperation both at State and pan-European level, sufficient funding and recognising and respecting the important role of civil society in protecting migrants’ rights both on land and at sea. From a perspective of international human rights law, more effective measures are needed to address the smuggling of migrants, a crime which should not be conflated with irregular border crossing; neither migrants nor those defending human rights should be criminalised. Overall, respecting international law and ensuring safe disembarkation, respectful treatment, access to health care (including mental health care) and effective access to asylum procedures and legal advice are also key elements for saving lives at sea.

The policy recommendations discussed in this article draw on a series of hearings and fact-finding missions in the Evros region,[6] in Lampedusa[7] and in Calais.[8]

Promoting parliamentary engagement

As PACE members, our work goes beyond reaching a political consensus across the Assembly on our Resolutions. We, as Rapporteurs, place particular emphasis on the follow-up to this work. As the situation keeps worsening for men, women and children in Europe and beyond, promoting these policy recommendations across the various national parliaments is paramount.

At the national level, we are able to promote these decisions within our respective parliaments through hearings or by launching inquiries. Parliamentarians vote on the budget in their home country, and can facilitate discussions on allocating more resources to enhance the preparedness of entities dealing with migrants, such as those responsible for identification, search or repatriation processes, or those providing support, running reception services or involved in human rights border monitoring mechanisms.

Parliamentarians can also ensure follow-up by engaging with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe; the policy recommendations on missing migrants were presented in late 2024 to the permanent representations of member States and to the Network of member States’ Focal Points on Migration. Organising events with parliamentarians, including PACE’s Observers and Partners for democracy, across Europe and beyond, can leverage parliamentary cooperation to increase momentum.[9]

Finally, we believe that parliamentarians have a responsibility to ensure awareness of the policy recommendations adopted by PACE by making them known beyond the political institutions. Europeans are often unaware of the link between national parliaments and the Council of Europe, and of their ability as constituents to call on their own parliamentary representatives to commit to the decisions they make in Strasbourg.

The tragedy of migrant deaths at sea and missing migrants is an unbearable reminder that these vulnerable human beings – those seeking international protection and fleeing wars, persecution, crises and disasters, extreme poverty and danger – remain marginalised in their ability to access the most fundamental rights and dignity. The Council of Europe has a significant role to play in bringing together governments, parliamentarians and civil society actors from our European continent and beyond in order to address societal challenges from this perspective of human rights and human dignity.

 

Julian Pahlke
Member of the German Bundestag; member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Germany, SOC); Rapporteur for follow-up on ‘Missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers – A call to clarify their fate’.
asmig@coe.int
X: @J_Pahlke

Paulo Pisco
Member of the Portuguese parliament; member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Portugal, SOC); Rapporteur on ‘Saving migrants’ lives at sea and protecting their human rights’.
asmig@coe.int

The authors would like to thank Marie Martin and Gaël Martin-Micallef, Secretaries to the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, PACE, for their contribution to this article.

 

[1] See https://pace.coe.int/en/pages/powers

[2] Council of Europe (2021) Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025)

[3] PACE Recommendation 2284 (2024) to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on ‘Missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers – A call to clarify their fate’

[4] PACE, Resolution 2568 (2024) on ‘Missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers – A call to clarify their fate’ and explanatory memorandum.

[5] See the explanatory memorandum adopted by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. Policy recommendations will be put to a vote in June 2025.

[6] Special Representative of the Council of Europe on Migration and Refugees (2024) ‘PACE Committee on Migration discusses ongoing and emerging challenges; PACE rapporteur visits Greece – Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees’

[7] PACE (2024) ‘More solidarity needed among member states for the migrants arriving in Lampedusa, the Gateway to Europe’

[8] PACE (2023) ‘Improving the humanitarian situation of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Calais and Dunkirk areas’

[9] PACE, ‘Special guests, Observers and Partners for democracy‘

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