A/RES/59/189 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 15 March 2005 Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 105 (b) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2004 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/59/503/Add.2)] 59/189. Missing persons The General Assembly, Guided by the purposes, principles and provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, Guided also by the principles and norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 1 and the Additional Protocols thereto, of 1977, 2 as well as international standards of human rights, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 3 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 4 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,4 the Convention on the Rights of the Child 5 and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, 6 Recalling its resolution 57/207 of 18 December 2002 and Commission on Human Rights resolutions 2002/60 of 25 April 2002 7 and 2004/50 of 20 April 2004, 8 Noting with deep concern that armed conflicts are continuing in various parts of the world, often resulting in serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, Recognizing that great technological progress has been achieved in the field of DNA forensic sciences with regard to missing persons, such as the work done by the International Commission on Missing Persons, based in Sarajevo, which could significantly assist efforts to identify missing persons from other conflict areas in the world, _______________ 1 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970–973. Ibid., vol. 1125, Nos. 17512 and 17513. 3 Resolution 217 A (III). 4 See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex. 5 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531. 6 A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III. 7 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2002, Supplement No. 3 (E/2002/23), chap. II, sect. A. 8 Ibid., 2004, Supplement No. 3 (E/2004/23), chap. II, sect. A. 2 04-48760