International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Admin GHRTV
Explainer
Author: João Victor Stuart
GHRD Intern – International Justice and Human Rights Team
LLB Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Title: International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Adopted by: United Nations General Assembly (by resolution 61/177)
When: 20 December 2006
Into Force: 23 December 2010
Status: Legally binding on states who have ratified (63 as at 18 June 2021)[1]
What is the significance of the ICPPED
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) is the first international binding treaty that brings a legal definition of the practice of enforced disappearances as serious human rights violations.[2] The Convention was initiated in response to the systemic use of enforced disappearances by certain states to eliminate dissent and avoid criticisms towards governments in their territories.[3] For example, between 1970 and 1980, several Latin-American authoritative governments widely adopted this method to shut down anti-governmental voices and movements of workers, peasants, students and unionists who had been expressing themselves as political opponents.[4]
Amnesty International has collected evidence about the number of people still missing in countries like Syria, Argentina, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.[5] According to the organization, during the Argentinian dictatorship for instance, governmental security forces were responsible for abducting around 30,000 people between 1976 and 1983, many of whom are still unaccounted for.[6]
In this sense, states opted for drafting a convention against enforced disappearances to criminalize this practice and to frame it as a grave Human Rights violation. Thus, pressuring states to combat this type of offence in their domestic jurisdictions, and also to tackle all the other human rights breaches that originate from this practice, such as arbitrary detentions and torture.[7]
The International Committee of the Red Cross defines Enforced Disappearances as:
“the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”[8]
This definition brings out important and indispensable elements of the crime of enforced disappearance. Firstly, there must be a form of deprivation of life, such as an arrest or detention, executed by agents of the states or by persons or groups acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the state.[9] In addition, state officials or other individuals in service of the state must either refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or conceal the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person.[10] This scenario places the disappeared person outside of the protection of the law. To avoid this result, the Convention places several preventive and protective obligations on member states.[11] For example, in addition to criminalizing enforced disappearances under all circumstances and without exceptions, signatories pledge to ensure that the conditions and procedures for lawful detention are prescribed by law, which reduces the chances of abusive and illegal acts.[12]
Moreover, states also must maintain a register or official records that include a minimum amount of information on detained persons. This requirement exists as an attempt to guarantee that relatives of the victim and other persons directly affected can obtain basic information concerning the whereabouts of the detained person to further provide reparations to them, if it is the case.[13]
Regarding the international mechanisms of support to the families of missing individuals, there is the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. This is a UN non-treaty body established in 1980 with the mission of handling cases of enforced disappearance that can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to State agents.[14] Therefore, the group aims to help the relatives of missing persons to find out what happened to them and discover their whereabouts by submitting specific cases to the relevant government.[15]
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)
Furthermore, victim’s relatives can obtain support from the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). This is the UN official treaty-based body of independent experts that are responsible for monitoring the implementation and compliance of the rules of the ICPPED.[16] The functions of the Committee include registering requests for urgent action (Article 30 of the Convention), drafting reports, and making recommendations to states parties (Article 29 of the Convention).[17] The Committee also receives individual complaints about breaches to the Convention by State parties (Article 31 of the Convention).[18]
In accordance with article 31 of the Convention, any person can communicate with the Committee about a case of enforced disappearance. This person can be the victim of an alleged violation, or another person with the written consent of the victim. If the complaint is made on behalf of a disappeared person, the representative does not need to have consent.[19] However, the individual complaint mechanism will only produce effects if it concerns a state party that has made a declaration to accept the competence of the Committee to examine individual complaints under article 31[20]. As of january 2020, 21 states had accepted the competence of the Committee.
After reviewing the admissibility criteria for the individual complaint, if it is admitted, the CED will issue a merit decision to indicate whether the state is responsible for violating the Convention or not.[21] Although the decisions and observations of the Committee are not binding to states, it can identify those recommendations that are particularly serious, urgent, protective, and/or can be achieved within short periods of time, and request them to send information about the implementation and development of these recommendations in their territories.[22]
What are some of the enshrined rights?
- The right the rightof any person not to be subjected to enforced disappearance (Article 1)
- The right to report enforced disappearances to the competent authorities (Article 12)
- The right of the victim’s relatives, representatives, or the Counsel to access essential information about the circumstances of the disappearance (Article 18)
- The right of persons deprived of their liberty to be released (Article 21)
- The right to know the truth (Article 24)
Where can I find a copy of the ICPPED to read?
A copy can be accessed from the following link: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/disappearance-convention.pdf
[1] United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner, ‘Status of Ratification: Interactive Dashboard’ <https://indicators.ohchr.org/> accessed 01 July 2021.
[2] International Committee of the Red Cross. International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 20 December 2006. Available at: https: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=8FA7B12BDE34D1DFC1257E2700449699
[3] What is Enforced Disappearance? Hafiza Merkezi Available at: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/what-is-enforced-disappearance/
[4] Ibid, parag. 1.
[5] Enforced Disappearances. Amnesty International Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/disappearances/ .
[6] Ibid, parag. 32.
[7] Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDPA). International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Available at: https://www.dfae.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/foreign-policy/international-law/un-human-rights-treaties/international-convention-for-the-protection-of-all-persons-from-enforced-disappearance.html .
[8] International Committee of the Red Cross. Parag. 02.
[9] ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES: Q & A. Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/32000/ior510102011en.pdf
[10] Ibid, parag. 02.
[11] Ibid, parag. 02.
[12] Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDPA). Parag. 03
[13] Ibid, parag. 03.
[14] Study of existing mechanisms to clarify the fate of missing people. Available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/icrc_themissing_012003_en_9.pdf
[15] Ibid, p. 12.
[16] COMMITTEE ON ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/CEDIndex.aspx
[17] Introduction to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/CEDIntro.aspx
[18] Ibid.
[19] Committee of Enforced Disappearance. Individual Complaints. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/Complaints.aspx
[20] Ibid, parag. 03.
[21] Committee of Enforced Disappearances. International Justice Resource Center. Available at: https://ijrcenter.org/un-treaty-bodies/committee-on-enforced-disappearances/#Individual_Complaints
[22] Committee of Enforced Disappearances. Rules of procedure and working methods. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CED/Pages/WorkingMethods.aspx
[23] Source of the image: Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/disappearances/
