enforced disappearance
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GC: n

S: AHCE – https://rm.coe.int/missing-persons-and-victims-of-enforced-disappearance-in-europe-issue-/16806daa1c (last access: 4 November 2020); UN – https://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance (last access: 6 November 2020).

N: 1. – enforced (adj): From enforce (v.) (mid-14c., “to drive by physical force; to try, attempt, strive; to fortify, strengthen a place;” late 14c. as “exert force, compel; make stronger, reinforce; strengthen an argument; grow stronger, become violent,” from Old French enforcier “strengthen, reinforce; use force (on), offer violence (to); oppress; violate, rape” (12c.) or a native formation from en- “make, put in” + force (n.). Meaning “compel obedience to” (a law, etc.) is from 1640s. Related: Enforced; enforcing).
– disappearance (n): “act or fact of disappearing; a ceasing to appear or exist,” 1712; see disappear + -ance.
2. The act of making someone disappear against his or her will, often suddenly. It therefore refers to the arrest, detention or abduction of a person, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the fate of that person. The agents of a repressive State often perpetrate this crime, which, with complete impunity, “gets rid” of people that it considers a “nuisance”: no arrest warrant, no charge, no prosecutions. Outside the protection of the law, the victim finds him or herself in a situation of utter vulnerability and is especially at risk of being tortured or executed with complete impunity. The uncertainty inherent to enforced disappearance makes it a crime that is distinct from confinement or extrajudicial execution: the families’ feelings swing between hope and disillusionment, which equates to true psychological torture.
3. 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.

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.

4. Both the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance state that, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at any civilian population, an “enforced 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.
5. Globally, the vast majority of victims of enforced disappearance are men. However, it is women who most often lead the struggle to find out what happened in the minutes, days and years since the disappearance – putting themselves at risk of intimidation, persecution and violence. On top of this, the disappeared person is often the family’s main breadwinner, the only one able to cultivate the crops or run the family business. This is then made even worse by some national laws that don’t let you draw a pension or receive other support without a death certificate.
6. Cultural Interrelation: Forced Disappearance (2014) is a book by Dana Marton which tells the story of a wealthy business man from the U.S. who goes missing in Venezuela as a result of enforced disappearance as he was really an undercover spy and an investigator volunteers to track him down as her first case.

S: 1. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=enforced+disappearance (last access: 6 November 2020). 2. TI – https://trialinternational.org/topics-post/enforced-disappearance/ (last access: 4 November 2020). 3&4. UN https://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance (last access: 4 November 2020). 5. AI – https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/disappearances/ (last access: last access: 4 November 2020). 6. GR – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22612472-forced-disappearance (last access: last access: 4 November 2020).

SYN: forced disappearance

S: UN – https://www.un.org/en/observances/victims-enforced-disappearance (last access: last access: 4 November 2020)

CR: amnesty, crime against humanity, homicide, human rights, intergovernmental organisation, international protection, violation of human rights