Commentary on the Draft UN “Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances”
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419000800404 |
| Author | Reed Brody |
| Published date | 01 December 1990 |
| Date | 01 December 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
Brody/UN Draft
Declaration
Enforcedor Involuntary
Disappearences
COMMENTARY ON
THE
DRAFT UN "DECLARATION ON
THE
PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS FROM ENFORCED
OR
INVOLUN-
TARY DISAPPEARANCES"·
Reed Brody"
IBackground
One of the most sinister phenomena of our time has been the deliberate
policy of certain governments to cause large numbers of their citizens to
"disappear" undercircumstances whichbring terror to them and their loved
ones.
While some of the worst situations of disappearances have abated,
others have appeared and the phenomenon continues to be widespread.
The
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disap-
pearances reports that in 1989 it transmitted 721 new cases to governments
in all parts of the world."
It is recognized that disappearances violate "practically all basic human
rights'r' among them the right to liberty and security of person, the right
to be free from torture, the right to recognition as a person before the law,
the right to legal remedies, and often the right to life.' Yet, there is no
international human rights instrument, be it declaration or convention,
which specifically outlaws the practice of disappearances." Equally
important, as the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearan-
ces (WGEID) has pointed out, no international instrument "elucidate(s) the
concrete steps to be taken at a nationallevel by judicial,military and police
authorities in the attempt to
clarity
cases of enforced or involuntary
disappearances." WGEID has on several occasions recommended the
*For the text see Appendix.
*.
Legal Officer, International Commission of Jurists. Co-author of the original draft
declaration and convenor and secretary of the 1990 expert-meeting.
3E/CN.4/1990/13.
4 Idem, para. 339.
5 See E/CN.4/1435and E/CN.4/1492.See also the decision of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights in the
Velasquez
Rodriguez
Case,judgment
of29
July 1988,para, 155et seq.
381
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