Abstract

The concept of Human Rights has evolved over the time. With the human rights violations on the international level, the urge to create uniform human rights charters and treaties has increased. The main reason was the surging violations which lead the world community to devise some strategies and to create such internationally binding treaties which will ensure the protection of Human Rights. The very first in this series was the United Nations charter. But the very first document pertaining to human rights exclusively was the United Nations declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) which was formulated in year 1948. This declaration, although not binding in nature, is of extreme importance because it inculcates nearly all the basic human rights guarantees. Enforced disappearances is not just an offence which violates a single right, rather it is an offence which violates a set of basic human rights. In this way the severity of the offence increases.

Key Words

Human Rights, Disappearance, Violation, International Law, United Nation, Dignity

Background

With the aim to establish a peaceful international community based on international cooperation and harmony, UN charter exemplified the efforts which the world community had put in for the maintenance of international peace and security. The protection of human rights is directly linked with the maintenance of international peace and security. For this reason, United Nations has mentioned the protection of human rights as a primary aim of the organization. UN charter in its preamble mentions the aim of UN regarding human rights is nondiscrimination. Similarly, in number of provisions the protection of Human Rights is termed as an important task of United Nations. This same clause is used in UN charter several times. This means that the basic purpose for which United Nations was established is maintenance of peace and security internationally, which cannot be achieved without making the protection of human rights indispensable and highly prioritized. 










Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Being the first ever unified document on Human

Rights, UDHR has got immense importance till date. At the time when Human rights were disregarded and the violations of human rights were at peak, UDHR was a serious attempt to contribute for the protection of basic human rights for all. It is a universal document, meaning thereby that it is available for the protection of rights of all human beings irrespective of their race, sex, religion, age, ethnicity, or nationality. The preamble of UDHR mentions that the ‘recognition of equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.’ (UDHR, 1948).

As already discussed, international peace and justice cannot be achieved without protection of human rights. A just, peaceful and cooperative world is only possible if the basic rights of all the persons get respected. Similarly, on another context, if human rights are not protected and people are deprived of their basic rights than they do not find any other option except to stand up for their rights. This is also discussed in the preamble of UDHR in the following words: “Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have any recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that Human Rights should be protected by the rule of law.” (UDHR Preamble)

The discussion of UDHR is very imperative because it sets out a comprehensive list of Human Rights to be protected by the states. So, it is important to discuss all those rights provided by the international human rights instruments, which are violated in the case of practice of Enforced Disappearances. Such rights include: 

Right to life: ‘Right to life, liberty and security of persons.’ (UDHR, Article 3) When a person is forcibly disappeared, his liberty, life and security all are at stake.

Right to protection from torture and inhuman treatment (UDHR, Article 5): In the case of Enforced Disappearances, the vulnerability of victim’s inhuman treatment and torture increases. 

Right to recognition as a person (UDHR, Article 6): A person has right to be recognized as a person before law, but when he is illegally abducted on the behest of state, he is deprived of his rights which enable him to be recognized as a person before law. 

Right to be treated equally before law (UDHR, Article 7): In such a case, this right becomes unavailable to the victim.

Right to effective remedy (UDHR, Article 8): It implies that if any person is deprived of his fundamental rights, then he has the right to get effective remedy by the Competent Courts of tribunals. But in the case of enforced disappearance, the victim is kept for a long span of time with no immediate remedy. 

Protection from Arbitrary arrests and detention (UDHR, Article 9): This is the basic and most specific human right which is violated in the case of Enforced Disappearances. 

Right to fair trial (UDHR, Article 10): Another most important rights which gets violated in the offence of Enforced disappearance is he right to fair and impartial trial. The victim is detained and his access to fair trial is hampered.  

Right to be presumed innocent. (UDHR, Article 11) The person’s right to be presumed innocent is very important right which is denied to the victim of enforced disappearance.

Right to privacy (UDHR, Article 12): Before disappearance of a person forcibly, the right of privacy of the person and family is violated. 

Right to freedom of expression (UDHR, Article 19): Another very basic right provided by all human rights instruments is the right to freedom of expression. Dissenting voices must be heard with tolerance, instead of subjecting them to torture and arbitrary arrests. 

In almost every case of Enforced disappearances, all or most of the above stated rights are violated. 




ICCPR

All the basic civil rights which were incorporated in UDHR but with more clarity and procedural explanations has been mentioned in ICCPR. Moreover, it is an internationally binding document, hence it is important to discuss guarantees relating to free trial and due process. Article 9 of the convention is very much clear and self-explanatory as it mentions the procedural standard which is to be adopted in the case of criminal trial. This article at one hand gives the right to liberty to all human beings, and also prohibits the arbitrary arrests and detention. The Article clearly stipulates that ‘no one should be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.’ (ICCPR, art 9)Similarly, the guarantees such as informing the accused about the charges against him and his right to have access to a competent court for fair and speedy trial are also given by this convention. (ICCPR, Art. 9(2).

Other rights such as right to life, right to be treated humanely, right to equality before law, right to privacy, right to recognition before law, right to freedom of expression etc. are also provided by the said convention. Moreover, it provides minimum guarantees to the accused persons such as right to be promptly informed of the charges against him, right to provide his defence, right to have legal assistance, right to protection from forced self-incrimination. (ICCPR, Art. 14)




United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Enforced Disappearances

In 1978, for the first time UNGA took notice of the increasing reports of Enforced Disappearances from around the world. The situation seemed to be quite alarming for the United Nations, that’s why it showed some serious concerns over the matter through the resolution. It mentions in the resolution the purposes for which United Nations came into being and its commitments for the protection of Human Rights. The United Nations through the said resolution called upon Governments to devote resources in order to search those persons, to ensure impartial investigations into the matter, to ensure the accountability of security forces and law enforcement bodies, to ensure the human rights for all the persons, and to cooperate with national and international bodies for searching out the victims of enforced Disappearances. The resolution also requested the UNHR committee to make recommendations on the matter.’ (UNGA,1978).




Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances

After the last-mentioned resolution, United Nations again played its part by formulating a declaration to protect all persons from the menace of enforced disappearances. This declaration was adopted by the UNGA resolution no. 47/133 on December 18,1992. (OHCHR, 1992)

This declaration is completely dedicated to the offence of enforced disappearances; hence, it is very clear. According to the declaration, enforced disappearance is a crime which violates the rights presented by the international human rights treaties as well as violates the objects and principles of the United Nations. It places a complete restriction on the crime and urges state parties to completely eradicate this crime and cooperate internationally with other states and United Nations for eradication and control. The very basic contribution of said declaration is that it considers enforced disappearances as a crime just like any other crime which should be punishable under the criminal law of the states.

The whereabouts of victims must be disclosed to their families and families also have a right to inquire about the health status of their loved ones who are detained illegally. It also emphasizes on state parties to effectively devise mechanisms pertaining to detain persons by following all the minimum standards provided by international law. It also places a duty upon the respective governments to establish independent, resourceful, and effective bodies to entertain the complaints regarding Enforced Disappearances. It also condemns the concept of special military courts for the trial of officers of the state involved in forcibly disappearing persons. Another most important right which the declaration provides to the families of victims is the right to receive redress and compensation from the state. The right to get proper compensation in such cases is indeed an important right because in most of the cases, the victim is the only earner of his family, and due to his disappearance, the family faces worst financial crisis. 

This declaration is one of the very first fully dedicated attempts to raise concerns against the offence of Enforced Disappearance throughout the world. It attempts to provide detailed guarantees to the victims and to secure the rights of the victims. The world should look up to this declaration and states should devise a comprehensive strategy to curb this offence. 




ICPPED

After the declaration on Enforced Disappearances, the practice continued even more than before. The reason could be that the declaration was not binding in nature, and there was a need to formulate and adopt a binding instrument on the prohibition of enforced disappearances. For this reason, United Nations adopted a convention on the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances. ICPPED was adopted by the General Assembly resolution on 23 December 2010. (United Nations, 2010).

This convention is almost similar in contents to the declaration on the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances but includes slightly comprehensive details and covers more aspects as compared to the declaration. It recalls all the commitments made by the United Nations through different human rights instruments at different times and finds it imperative for the protection of all persons that a binding instrument should be drafted and adopted by the states. It prohibits and condemns enforced disappearance at every cost and in all circumstances, whether an emergency, armed conflict, or threat of war. States cannot invoke these justifications to justify their heinous act of enforced disappearances. The convention provides a clear and comprehensive definition of the offence of enforced disappearances; the definition is very much self-explanatory in all aspects and takes on board all those persons who directly or indirectly take part in the commission of the offence. The convention makes it obligatory for the states to make enforced disappearance a separate and distinct offence under its criminal law. The criminal responsibility of all the officers directly or indirectly involved, is the object of the said convention.

The offence should be made highly punishable according to the convention. The convention also encourages state parties to mutually cooperate with one another regarding enforced disappearances. The concept of keeping individuals in secret detention is highly negated by the convention and it also urges the state parties to devise complete legal mechanism as to how and by whom the liberty of an individual be curtailed and what will be the conditions under which such order may be passed. But the persons can only be detained in an official detention center notified by the government and not in secret internment centers. 

Right to have legal representation should be provided to the victims and proper information mechanisms for the family should be devised so that the distress of the family may be mitigated to some extent. The convention also includes provisions relating to the education and training of law enforcement officials both civil and military. Another most important contribution of the convention is that it describes both victim himself and his family as the ‘real victims’.

This is accurate because it is the family and close friends who suffer miserably due to the disappearance of their loved ones. Moreover, the convention also authorizes to form a committee on Enforced Disappearance, which will be authorized to receive complaints from the families or relatives of the victims from the state parties and will be authorized to compel that respective state party to provide necessary information regarding the whereabouts of the victim to the Committee. Hence, this convention provides a detailed mechanism ranging from prohibition of secret detentions and investigation to the punishments of culprits and from providing reparations and compensations to the families of victims and the procedure regarding whereabouts of the victims. Till date, ICPPED has 98 signatories and 68 parties according to the United Nations treaty ratification and signature status. (UNTC, n.d)

Rome Statue of International Criminal Court

Another important international instrument which discusses the concept of Enforced Disappearance is the Rome Statute of international criminal court which condemns the offence of enforced disappearances and regards it as an offence against human dignity. It also defines the offence of Enforced Disappearances with the similar meanings as provided in the declaration and convention on enforced disappearances. Article 7 of statute which deals with the crimes against humanity, contains enforced disappearance of persons in the list. (Rome Statute of ICC, Art.7)

This implies that the important international instruments contain all the rights necessary for the protection of persons from forced or arbitrary arrests and condemn illegal deprivation of liberty from the state or state officials. 




International Humanitarian Law and Enforced Disappearances

While we have looked at IHRL and its relationship with the prohibition of Enforced Disappearances, it is also very imperative to explore the matter with reference to the IHL. The reason is that the security challenges faced by a state during national or international armed conflicts are very great. Especially, in the case of national armed conflicts, the security risks increase two folds. In such a situation when terror groups and militants are operating from within the state, the security forces have much greater challenges as compared to a war with international enemy state. in such a situation international humanitarian law is applicable. Hence, it is very important to know how international humanitarian law operates in such a situation regarding the protection of human rights of civilians. 

The most important factor to be determined is whether a person can be detained forcibly during armed conflict in the name of national security. The answer can be found in customary international law which is at the same time applicable to both international as well as non-international armed conflicts. Rule 98 of customary international humanitarian law states that “Enforced Disappearance is prohibited.’ (IHL, rule 98).While this is a general rule which prohibits enforced disappearances during armed conflicts, the offence itself violates several rules of customary IHL such as the right to prohibition from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, cruel treatment etc. 

Meanwhile, the offence of Enforced Disappearance was condemned by various international conferences of Red Cross and Red Crescent. The Red Cross and Red crescent in its 27th international conference held in year 1999, gave a plan of action for years 2000 to 2003 in which the organization requested the parties involved in an armed conflict to take effective measures against the practices which violate international humanitarian law, including the enforced disappearances.’ (ICRC, 1999).

Hence, by reviewing the international humanitarian law, we have found that the crime of enforced disappearances is not even allowed during the times of armed conflicts and the emergence of any kind of armed conflict can never be cited as a justification to justify the inhumane act of forcibly disappearing any person. 




Regional Comparison

The story of Human Rights Violations in Indian occupied Kashmir

Kashmir has been a center of human rights violation since decades. There is a story which media tells us, and there is yet another story which the media does not tell us: the darker side of the picture. India is considered as one of the largest democracies in the world, yet democratic norms are dejected in Indian occupied Kashmir. Kashmiris have been deprived of their very basic right of self-determination. The deprivation of rights by the India has resulted in absolute chaos within the Kashmiri society. Kashmiris have tried to engage in political movements against the oppressor India due to which the Kashmiris have always been looked upon as traitors and militants.  Another reason of this general perception is that the majority of Kashmiris are Muslims. These are the reasons that the oppression on Kashmiris is thought to be legitimate by the Indian Government and public. Enforced disappearances, custodial tortures and deaths, inhumane treatment, extrajudicial murders, unknown and unidentified graves, and mutilated bodies etc. constitute various human rights violations in Kashmir. 

Extrajudicial killings of people from all ages in Kashmir has been known to many people based on daily news reports and bulletins. But very few in the world are aware of the fact that the Kashmiris are in fact going through the worst form of human rights violations. Enforced disappearances constitute a major portion of the human rights violations in Kashmir. ‘According to a report, more than 8000 Kashmiris have been reportedly missing by the Indian Army as well as Indian Police.’ (Khaliq, 2022).

Moreover, India does not allow access to the international bodies such as Amnesty International, (2001) Human Rights watch, to visit occupied Kashmir. This clearly means that India is not in a position to show to the world its grave human rights violations in Kashmir. Internet as well as media is censored in Kashmir, the right to freedom of speech is curtailed and people are not allowed to connect to their outer world. All these circumstances add fuel to the fire in such a situation when the human rights are at risk. 

The families of disappeared persons have formed an independent body named Association for Parents of the Disappeared Persons (APDP). It is an independent group which aims to seek justice from the state. Through this platform the sufferers get together to raise their collective voice with a hope that someday their voices will be heard. 

Various Acts enforced in Indian occupied Kashmir aid the law enforcement agencies to forcibly disappear the persons on the basis of national security. Such Acts include, Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, more commonly called TADA, 1987, Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, 1992, Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978. These legislative pieces help the law enforcement agencies to 

detain persons as well as their families in the name of public safety and national security. The people have been raising their voices against involuntary disappearances but unfortunately the culture of impunity did not allow their voices to be heard by the state. Even the local police refuse to register cases against the state officials involved in enforced disappearances of the individuals. 




Bangladesh and Status of Enforced Disappearances

The situation of Human Rights in Bangladesh is not different. According to Human Rights Watch Report on the issue regarding Bangladesh, ‘86 people are missing so far, whose whereabouts have not been disclosed. Only during the government of Hasina Wajid, more than 600 people have been disappeared illegally.’ (“Where No Sun Can Enter”: A Decade of Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh - Bangladesh, 2021)

Governments refuse to acknowledge the disappearances of persons on their behalf. The international Human rights bodies such as Amnesty International (2001). Human rights watch, UN working group on enforced disappearances have been condemning enforced disappearances in Bangladesh since years, but the Bangladeshi government seems reluctant to properly respond to these international bodies. ‘Recently, Bangladeshi government has written to the UN and has demanded that the government should not be dragged into every case of missing persons because they might be missing due to their own reasons and grounds and not disappeared by the state. Such type of allegations proves to be fatal for the good will of government and state institutions.’ (Islam, 2022)

The ruling party and the Bangladeshi security agencies have been routinely involved in Human Rights violations, especially in Enforced Disappearances. Even the security agencies threaten the families of the disappeared persons and force them to sign statements contemplating that the persons are hiding and absconding on their own and there is no involvement from the state in their alleged disappearance. Such type of behaviour is more shocking and a serious threat to the state of human rights in Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh has not yet signed ICPPED, which also shows a lack of commitment on the part of Bangladeshi government to respect human rights and protect persons from the menace of enforced disappearances. Moreover, Bangladesh does not recognize enforced disappearance as a separate offence under its criminal legal system. 

Enforced disappearances in Myanmar: A Human Rights perspective

The situation of Myanmar is quite different because the previous jurisdictions analyzed by this research were true democracies, but in Myanmar, the military took over the control of the state in February,2021 and overthrew the Suu Kyi’s party which won the parliamentary majority in the elections. (Gunia, 2021). After the military coup, the human rights situation in the state worsened and the military control over the state proved to be very fatal for the political opponents and dissenting voices within the state. According to a news report, ‘Since the military coup, almost 5000 people have been forcibly disappeared by the Myanmar Junta and the political leaders, lawmakers, journalists, student activists, protestors, civil servants etc. constitute a major portion of the detained persons.’ (The Irrawaddy, 2021). 

This is very alarming situation as the military is direct in control of the state affairs. The military courts in Myanmar have me formulated so as to try the ordinary citizens by putting fake and false cases against them. One such popular highlighted and high-profile case is that of the detention of Suu Kyi herself. She has been in military custody since the coup ousted her government in February 2021. Her whereabouts have not been disclosed. She is denied her right of fair trial and many cases have been made against a 77-year-old woman who is a noble peace prize laurate. Her case has been put up in front of the UN working group on Enforced disappearances. This is just one example of how the laws are manipulated to achieve one’s own political vendettas. In a state where top political leadership is not immune from human rights violations, how can one person expect that the rights of ordinary citizens would be protected? 




Enforced Disappearances in Nepal

The status of Human Rights in Nepal is also very crucial as the state manages to protect the perpetrators of human rights violations. The culture of impunity exists there as well, due to which the issue has never been resolved and a little effort has been done on the part of government to address and resolve the issue of missing persons. Nepal has also gone through a decade of insurgency and armed conflicts. The human rights violations during this decade starting from 1996 to 2006 remained at peak, and still the whereabouts of many disappeared persons are not known. 

Nepal formulated two different commissions for investigation into the matter. ‘One was Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP), and the other Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which received almost 60,000 complaints regarding the matter’ (Human Rights Watch,2021). The figures are very high, but the progress of these commissions is negligible. The government of Nepal enacted an Act called ‘The Enforced Disappearances enquiry, truth, and reconciliation Commission Act, 2014 which mandated the commission and provided it legal support so as to investigate the cases of enforced disappearances during the armed conflict. It provides a thorough framework regarding the powers and functions of the commission and procedures to be adopted by the commission.  It has been criticized by the Supreme Court of Nepal as well because of the provisions regarding amnesty to be provided to the perpetrators. 

Since the formation of the commission in 2015, almost 3223 complaints have been received by it regarding enforced disappearances, out of which commission has declared 2484 cases as genuine enforced disappearances cases. Recently the commission has taken up the task to dig up the burial sites of thousands of people who are suspected of being the victims of enforced disappearances. The Act mentioned above, gives the commission authority to excavate the graves and investigate the cases of enforced disappearances. According to the news report, ‘the commission is planning to carry out exhumation at the possible places where the victims could have been buried after being killed either by security forces or the Maoist fighters’ (Commission to Dig up Sites in Search of Missing Persons, 2022).

Another important factor which is to be highlighted here is that the Penal code of Nepal mentions the offence of Enforced disappearance as a separate offence, with punishment up to 15 years in jail and 500,000 Rs fine or both. This is important in this regard because other jurisdictions of South Asia under study have yet not criminalized the offence. 

Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka

‘Disappearances in Sri Lanka have been second largest in the world followed by Iraq and around 60,000 to 100,000 people have been forcibly abducted since 1980s. (Global Human Rights Defence, n.d.). Like many states, Sri Lankan government has also started some 

initiatives such as presidential commissions and bodies but there was a lack of trust on such bodies due to their ineffective working mechanisms. Later in year 2016, due to immense international pressure on Sri Lanka, the government established a brand-new office named as ‘Office on Missing Persons (OMP)’. 

‘It's the first permanent body mandated to trace missing persons, and to identify those circumstances in which the persons went missing, to identify the avenues of redress for the missing persons and their relatives and to collect data regarding missing persons.’ (Office of Missing Persons Act, section 10).  The OMP has also proved to be ineffective and unable to effectively resolve the issue and trace. Later in year 2018, Sri Lankan Parliament enacted The Office for Reparations Act with the object to form Office for reparations to provide reparations to the victims of gross human right violations. This office also was constituted ton provide reparations to the victims of Enforced Disappearances. 

Sri Lanka is a party ton ICPPED. According to the official United Nations treaty collection ratification status of ICPPED, Sri Lanka signed the treaty on 10 December 2015, and finally ratified it on 25 May, 2016. (UNTC, n.d). In order to give effect to the object and purpose of the treaty, Sri Lanka enacted Enforced Disappearances Act in year 2018. The object of this Act is stated in the preamble as follows. 

‘An Act to give effect to the ICPPED, to ensure the right to justice and reparations to the victims of enforced disappearances.’ (International convention for the protection of all persons from Enforced disappearances Act, no.5 of 2018)

Constitution of Sri Lanka does not contain specific guarantee regarding protection from enforced disappearances, but it contains basic fundamental rights which in one way or the other are imperative in protection from arbitrary arrests and detentions. Despite all the obstacles, the government of Sri Lanka has sown some serious concerns regarding the issue and has done a lot more than the states of the South Asia in this regard. 




International Best Practices

In this segment, the research will analyze the efforts made by different jurisdictions to control the offence of Enforced Disappearances, which may include legislative progress to criminalize the offence and some executive and administrative progress which proved to be effective in this regard. It is to be mentioned here that due to the involvement of state itself in this offence, many states do not recognize enforced disappearance as a separate offence and feel reluctant in penalizing the offence. Hence, some states openly condemning the practice in their penal/ criminal codes are mentioned hereunder:




Australia

Australia is one of the very few states which openly mentions the crime of enforced disappearance in its penal law and penalizes it with a stronger punishment. Section 268.21 of Criminal Code Act, 1995 under the title crimes against humanity contains the offence of Enforced disappearance of a person and criminalizes it with punishment of 17 years imprisonment. (Criminal Code Act, 1995, Section. 268.21).




Philippines

Philippines have gone one step farther in its attempt to provide a strong legal mechanism to fight against the offence of enforced disappearances. An Act titled ‘Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Act 2012’. It is a full fledge legislation dedicated for the protection of persons from enforced disappearances. Initially it defines various terms such as enforced disappearance, agents of state, order of battle, and victim. It also makes it very clear that fundamental rights of persons cannot be suspended in any kind of emergency whether internal or external. Hence, the fundamental rights are declared as non-derogable. It adds that no value is attached to the command of any superior authority who passes the orders of disappearing a person. Right to have immediate communication with the family, duty of reporting the case of disappeared persons, responsibility to disclose the whereabouts of the disappeared persons, duty to maintain an official register of detained persons, liabilities of the superior authorities etc. are all discussed in the said legislation.

 Moreover, the penal provisions are quite severe and provide for a range of punishments from 5 years imprisonment up to 20 years of imprisonment depending upon the role of perpetrator in the commission of the offence. It also states that the alleged perpetrators should be temporarily suspended from their office until the completion of investigation. It also contains provisions regarding safety of witnesses, complainants, lawyers etc. and provides for amnesty in the case of disclosure by a person who has not been a principal offender in the case. Hence, this law can be said to be a breakthrough in the protection of fundamental rights against the offence of enforced disappearance. Although it is not complete law from all aspects, and also contains some serious flaws, but it can be seen as a foundation for the protection of persons from the arbitrary arrests and detentions in the shape of Enforced Disappearances. 




France

The penal code of France also criminalizes the offence of Enforced Disappearance. It mentions in the Article 212-1 of the Penal Code that ‘the abduction of persons followed by their disappearance’ (Penal Code of France, Art. 212-1). It is a crime against humanity, punishable with the criminal imprisonment for life.

Conclusion

International law being very active and supportive of the fundamental rights provides many guarantees thereof. From the very inception of the United Nations, the organization has been very active in the protection of human rights. United Nations Charter, UDHR, ICCPR, contain very clear provisions regarding fundamental rights and safeguards against arbitrary 

arrests and detentions, inhumane treatment, torture, and custodial deaths. Moreover, the UN felt need to provide a detailed legal mechanism for the protection of persons against involuntary disappearances, therefore, ICPPED was adopted. ICPPED provides a detailed mechanism regarding investigation, trial, state responsibility, protection of persons against involuntary disappearances and the liability of states in this regard. Many states have yet to ratify the convention against Enforced Disappearances. 

There is still need of this convention being universally acknowledged and ratified because this is the only way it will become binding on the states, and they will incorporate it into their domestic laws. There are very limited states which penalize the offence of Enforced Disappearances in their domestic criminal systems.  

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