Appendix IV: Draft Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons
| Published date | 01 June 1992 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419201000214 |
| Date | 01 June 1992 |
| Subject Matter | Part C: Appendices |
Appendix
IV
/
Draft
Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance
of
Persons
APPENDIX
IV
DRAFT
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON
FORCED
DISAPPEARANCE OF PERSONS
Note:
In its Annual Report 1986·1987, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights proposed to the General Assembly that it consider the possibility of
adopting an inter-American convention to prevent and punish the practice of
forced disappearances. By Resolution AG/RES. 890 (XVII-0/87), the General
Assembly invited the Member States of the Organization
of
American States
(OAS) to submit comments and observations in this regard, so that the
Commission might submit a draft convention on the subject to the General
Assembly's session of 1988. After thorough study and consultation with
governmental and non-governmental organizations, the Commission prepared
the draft that is reproduced below. As of April 1992, the draft was still being
discussed by OAS Member States, lately in a Working Group of the Permanent
Council.
TheAmerican States party to the present
Convention,
Reaffirming their intent to consolidate, in this hemisphere, within the
framework of democratic institutions, a system of personal freedom and social
justice based on respect for the rights of the human person;
Considering that the forced disappearance of persons constitutes an
extremely serious form of repression, one that violates basic human rights
enshrined in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Political
and Civil Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights;
Bearing in mind that, while the acts which comprise the forced disap-
pearance constitute both a violation of fundamental rights and freedoms
guaranteed in the aforementioned international instruments as well as the
commission of crimes set forth in the respective national laws,
it
is nonetheless
important to devise an instrument which characterizes the forced disappearance
of persons as a specific crime in and of itself, setting forth norms designed to
punish and prevent and regulate its international effects;
Observing that, because of its inherent cruelty and contempt for human
dignity, the practice of forced disappearances is an affront to theconscience of
the hemisphere;
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