Who Is Affected?
The Victims
Themselves
The victims are frequently tortured and in constant fear for their lives.
They are well aware that their families do not know what has become of them and
that the chances are slim that anyone will come to their aid. Having been
removed from the protective precinct of the law and “disappeared” from society,
they are in fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their
captors.
Even if death is not the final outcome and the victim is eventually
released from the nightmare, the physical and psychological scars of this form
of dehumanization and the brutality and torture which often accompany it
remain.
Friends and
Families of the Victims
The families and friends of the victims, experience slow mental anguish,
not knowing whether the victim is still alive and, if so, where he or she is
being held, under what conditions, and in what state of health. They alternate
between hope and despair, wondering and waiting, sometimes for years, for news
that may never come. In addition, they are well aware that they, too, are
threatened, that they may suffer the same fate themselves and that searching
for the truth may expose them to even greater danger.
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The family’s distress is frequently compounded by the material consequences
of the disappearance. The disappeared person is often the family’s main
breadwinner. He or she may be the only member of the family able to cultivate
the crops or run the family business. The emotional upheaval is thus
exacerbated by material deprivation, made more acute by the costs incurred
should they decide to undertake a search. Furthermore, they do not know when
—if ever — their loved one is going to return, which makes it difficult for
them to adapt to the new situation. In some cases, national legislation may
make it impossible to draw a pension or receive other means of support in the
absence of a death certificate. Economic and social marginalization is
frequently the result.
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The serious economic hardships which usually accompany a disappearance are
most often borne by women, and it is women who are most often at the forefront
of the struggle to resolve the disappearance of family members. In this
capacity they may suffer intimidation, persecution and reprisals. When women
are themselves direct victims of disappearance, they become particularly
vulnerable to sexual and other forms of violence.
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Children can also be victims, both directly and indirectly. The
disappearance of a child is a clear contravention of a number of provisions of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right to a personal
identity. The loss of a parent through disappearance is also a serious
violation of a child’s human rights.
Communities
Communities are directly affected by the disappearance of breadwinners,
and the degradation of the families' economic situation and their social
marginalization.
Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread
terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice
is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects
their communities and society as a whole.
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Definition
According to the Declaration on the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, proclaimed by
the General Assembly in its resolution 47/133 of 18 December 1992 as a body
of principles for all States, an enforced disappearance occurs when:
"persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or
otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or
levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on
behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of
the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of
the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their
liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law."
A Serious Violation of Human Rights
Having been removed from the protective precinct of the law and
"disappeared" from society, victims of enforced disappearance are in
fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors. Some
of the human rights that enforced disappearances regularly violate are:
- The right to recognition as a person
before the law;
- The right to liberty and security of
the person;
- The right not to be subjected to
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
- The right to life, when the
disappeared person is killed;
- The right to an identity;
- The right to a fair trial and to
judicial guarantees;
- The right to an effective remedy,
including reparation and compensation;
- The right to know the truth regarding
the circumstances of a disappearance.
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Enforced disappearances also generally violate various economic, social
and cultural rights for both the victims as well as their families:
- The right to protection
and assistance to the family;
- The right to an adequate
standard of living;
- The right to health;
- The right to education.
Both the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court, which came into force on 1 July
2002, and the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,
adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006, state that, when
committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at any civilian
population, a "forced disappearance" qualifies as a crime against
humanity and, thus, is not subject to a statute of limitations. It gives
victims' families the right to seek reparations, and to demand the truth about
the disappearance of their loved ones.
Origins of the Day
On 21 December 2010, by its resolution 65/209 the
UN General Assembly expressed its deep concern about the increase in enforced
or involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world, including
arrest, detention and abduction, when these are part of or amount to enforced
disappearances, and by the growing number of reports concerning harassment,
ill-treatment and intimidation of witnesses of disappearances or relatives of
persons who have disappeared.
By the same resolution the Assembly welcomed the
adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance, and decided to declare 30 August the International
Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, to be observed beginning in
2011.
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#UN #VICTIM #INTERNATIONAL_DAY #DPCW_1038 #DPCW
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