Foreign experience in criminal law counteraction to enforced disappearance

Abstract

The problem of criminal liability for the enforced disappearance of the direction of supervision over the need to study issues relatedto the criminalization of such a crime, as well as determining the legal nature of such an act and distinguishing it from othersenshrined in law. The practice of foreign jurisdictions to determine the place of enforced disappearance in the criminal system is toadhere to the diverse and ambiguous, which is of keen interest among researchers.The article is devoted to the study of foreign experience on the mechanism of counteraction to enforced disappearances and comparisonwith the current practice in national legislation. It is well known that there is an ambiguity in the world community about anumber of issues directly related to enforced disappearances. In particular, the issue of criminalization of enforced disappearanceremains open, as to date a number of states have refrained from recognizing enforced disappearance as a criminal offense in nationallaw, thereby violating the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance(hereinafter the Convention).The article considers the need to recognize enforced disappearance as a separate crime, which in turn generates interest in thestudy of issues related to the establishment of the appropriate legal qualification of such a crime and its place in criminal law. The studyalso found that different countries have chosen different ways to enshrine enforced disappearance in national law, namely: 1) recognitionof enforced disappearance as a crime against the will, honor and dignity of a person (within a single, isolated act of crime); 2) establishmentof criminal liability for two separate offenses: the first provides for liability for enforced disappearance under a single act, andthe second – in cases of systematic or large-scale nature; 3) recognition enforced disappearance by a crime against humanity in the caseof a single act; 4) recognition of enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity in the event of a large-scale or systematic attackon the civilian population; 5) establishment of a single offense, which includes all possible cases of enforced disappearance.The state of criminal-legal counteraction to enforced disappearances in Ukraine was also briefly analyzed. It is established thatthe national legislation on criminal liability for such a crime has shortcomings that must be overcome by amending the criminal lawaccordingly.