United Nations (Declaration of Death of Missing Persons) Act, 1956

This 1956 Act gives the force of law in Pakistan to a United Nations Convention that lets a person be legally declared dead even though their body was never found and no death certificate exists. Section 2 states that the rules set out in the Schedule to the Act -- which is the actual text of the UN Convention on the Declaration of Death of Missing Persons (1950) -- apply as Pakistani law, and the Federal Government can update the Schedule by notification if the Convention itself is amended.

Section 3 lets the Federal Government extend this same declaration-of-death mechanism, by notification, to people who went missing after 1945 under similar circumstances, if some other international agreement calls for it. Section 4 gives the Federal Government power to make rules to carry the Act into effect; Section 5, which originally dealt with something else, was later omitted entirely.

The Schedule (the Convention text) is the real substance of the law. It was designed for people who disappeared between 1939 and 1945 in Europe, Asia or Africa in circumstances suggesting they died because of the war or due to racial, religious, political or national persecution. Article 3 sets out the conditions a court (called a 'tribunal') must be satisfied of before issuing a declaration of death: the person's last residence was in one of those continents, they disappeared in 1939-1945, the circumstances point to war or persecution as the cause, at least five years have passed since they were last known to be alive, and public notice has been given so that the missing person -- if alive -- has a chance to come forward.

Articles 2 and 9-10 set up the machinery: which courts can hear such cases, and an 'International Bureau for Declarations of Death' at the UN that keeps a central registry, must be told about every application within fifteen days, and publishes lists of applications and decisions. A declaration of death cannot actually be issued until three months after the Bureau has published the application, so that competing claims or evidence of survival can surface first.

Articles 5-7 explain the legal effect: a declaration made in one country is treated as strong (though rebuttable) evidence of death and its date in other countries that are party to the Convention, and declarations made before the Convention existed can be given the same effect if the issuing court certifies they meet the Convention's conditions. Article 18 sends unresolved disputes between countries about the Convention to the International Court of Justice.

This is a narrow, procedural law of limited everyday relevance -- it mainly matters to families trying to settle inheritance, remarriage or other legal questions concerning relatives who disappeared in the World War II era. The text shows footnote markers indicating past amendments (e.g., 'Subs. by F.A.O., 1975'), so anyone relying on it for a live matter should check the current official version.