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contents:
cover
What is Enforced Disappearance?
What does the United Nations do about Enforced Disappearances?
What is the United Nations 1992 Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance?
What is the United Nations Convention For the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance?
From AFAD’s initial assessment, the following are some factors which contributed to the successful adoption/approval of the Convention in September 2005:
What does the recently approved Convention mainly state about the issue of disappearance?
Why is there a need for a Convention?
What will the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, to be established by the Convention, do?
What is the Convention’s importance to the Peoples of Asia?
Why is the ratification and entry into force of the Convention important?
What is the practical importance of the Convention for the victims and their families?
How can we lobby governments to recognize the importance of the instrument by signing and ratifying the Convention?
What is the International Coalition Against Enforced
Disappearance
(ICAED)?
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Primer on the United Nations Convention
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
Third Edition
(Prepared by the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances)
Why is there a need for a Convention?
At present, the international bodies tasked to address the issue of enforced are the following:
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United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID);
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European and Interamerican Court of Human Rights andthe African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights;
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International Criminal Court (ICC - only in cases of disappearances happening as part of a widespread and systematic practice and for states that have ratified the Rome Statute);
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United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) and
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International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
These bodies, however, have their own respective limitations:
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) established in 1981, for instance, lacks any binding power as well as judicial competence. Its mandate is essentially humanitarian and despite much valuable work, it has not been able to stop the spread of enforced disappearances.
The other mechanisms are only competent for Europe, Latin America and Africa.
On the other hand, the ICC is a Court of international criminal law which endorses criminal responsibility of individuals for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. Victims of enforced disappearances and their relatives do not have direct access to this international tribunal, for it is so created so as to condemn international criminals and not to primarily protect the rights of the victims. It may take years until a perpetrator is convicted.
For its part, the HRC serves as the monitoring body of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) for all States that have ratified it and its Protocols. As many states are parties to the Covenant, it has a colossal workload and a huge backlog that is almost paralyzing its action. Families have always insisted that the Convention should be a fully bodied instrument in its own right with its own monitoring organ.
The Red Cross in the ICCR works to implement the Geneva Conventions in war situations or of internal conflict. It can also have a mandate to visit prisoners and search for the disappeared in special situations. However, all its actions are highly confidential and strictly humanitarian.
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